


The Road Not Taken

by OneOfThoseCrazyGirls



Series: What Should’ve Been [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Fix-It, Mild Smut, Romance, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2019-10-08 10:27:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 54,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17384786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneOfThoseCrazyGirls/pseuds/OneOfThoseCrazyGirls
Summary: Canon divergence/fix-it AU. Everything that happened in the series up through 4x11 happens as it did in the show and this fic diverges from there.Direct sequel to “Swear This One You’ll Save” and “Have Your Cake (And Eat It Too)” so make sure you read those first before reading this one.This fic is part of the What Should’ve Been ‘verse.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> First, I just want to thank you for reading; it really means a lot to me!
> 
> So I said this in the notes for parts 1 & 2 of this series, but I’ll say it again in case you forgot. I’ve been re-watching Arrow lately and, like a lot of other people, I’ve been pretty unhappy with the writing of the last few seasons of the show—a lot of storylines that didn’t pan out the way I thought they should’ve etc. So I decided to write this...mostly to make myself feel better lol
> 
> I’ve never written a fic like this before and I’m sure there are a thousand just like it, but I hope I’ve put my own spin on it. I also don’t really read fix-it fics, so if you do and notice similarities between mine and others, I promise it’s purely coincidence. Great minds think alike ;)
> 
> This is MY version of events, so if you don’t agree with the way things play out in this fic, that’s totally fine, but don’t be rude about it.
> 
> Anyway, I’ll let you get to it now. :)

Oliver arrived at Central City Station and, as he usually did, he took a cab to his hotel first to deposit his stuff before heading off to Samantha’s house.

On his way over to the house, Oliver hoped that he was able to convince Samantha to let him tell Felicity. He really didn’t feel like he was being that unreasonable.

When he arrived at her house and rang the doorbell, it wasn’t long before Samantha let him in. Despite the number of times he’d been over, he didn’t want to ask for a key or even the garage code; he didn’t want to overstep his bounds and do anything that could cause him to lose what little relationship he and William had.

“William’s up in his room.” Samantha informed him in lieu of a greeting.

“Okay.” Oliver acknowledged but didn’t actually make a move to go upstairs. Instead he stayed standing in the entryway of the house. “But first, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Okay.” Samantha looked at him credulously. “About what?”

Oliver paused for a moment trying to figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say.

“I can’t do this anymore.” he finally settled on.

“What do you mean?” Samantha asked, seemingly genuinely confused.

“Right before I left Star City, my fiancé and I had an argument about me coming here and I realized that I can’t keep lying to her about this anymore.”

“Oliver, we agreed that if you wanted to be in William’s life, you couldn’t tell anyone.”

Oliver exhaled and shifted his weight. “I know. I know that’s what we agreed to and I thought I could do it, but then Felicity and I were in that accident and...she’s paralyzed now.”

At that, Samantha actually looked genuinely sympathetic. “I know. I heard about that on the news. The accident that happened right after you got engaged. I still can’t believe you, of all people, are getting married.” Samantha shook her head in disbelief as she said the last part.

“Yes I am. Because I’m not that person you knew in college anymore. Which is my whole point. Look, I don’t want to get into it but Felicity’s not in a good place right now and, like I said, I can’t keep lying to her. She’s just one person, Samantha, and she’s not going to tell anyone.” Oliver pleaded with her, trying to will her to understand. Samantha was a good person; they may not have known each other that well back in college but he knew her well enough to know that she couldn’t deny him such a reasonable request.

Several moments of silence passed between them as Samantha seemed to consider what he was saying. “William still can’t know that you’re his father.” she finally said.

“Why not? Look, Samantha, I’m really trying to meet you halfway here. I’ve been honoring our agreement, even at the expense of my relationship, and I’ve been coming here every chance I get to spend time with him. I don’t know what else I can do to prove to you I’ve changed. Samantha, I am _begging_ you. I know that you just want what’s best for him, but don’t you think I want that too? Oh and just for the record, the only reason I haven’t been around for the past nine years is because I didn’t even know I had a son...which isn’t my fault.”

Samantha stared at him for what felt like years. He had faced down some of the most dangerous people in the world, but the only other time he had felt nerves like this was when he was asking Felicity out for the first time.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Samantha spoke.

“Let me think about it. William’s upstairs in his room.”

Oliver deflated, but eventually he nodded and headed up to William’s room. _She_ _didn’t_ _say_ _no_. _She_ _didn’t_ _say_ _no_. Oliver kept repeating that to himself as he walked up the stairs. She may not have agreed yet, but she also didn’t say no. That was something, at least.

* * *

 

Spending time with William actually made him (almost) forget the conversation he and Samantha had had.

But after the Flash saved the city from Captain Cold—Barry would never find out about this—Oliver headed downstairs and called a cab, deciding to wait for it out on the porch.

Oliver heard Samantha follow him outside and come to stand next to him.

“I thought about what you said.” Samantha stated.

“And?”

“I think you’re right. You have stepped up since you found out. And you were also right that it wasn’t your fault that you didn’t know about William. I’m okay if you tell your fiancé.”

Oliver couldn’t hold back his smile at her words and he didn’t try to. “Thank you,” he told her.

Samantha gave him a small smile and a nod, but didn’t make a move to go back inside. “But I just want you to understand. I never expected to see you again, and I know it was wrong to lie to you, but your mother is very intimidating. When you first came here and told me that you knew, I just kinda freaked out. When my parents found out I was pregnant, they were not happy. And they were even less happy to find out who the father was. And eventually, we managed to repair our relationship, but for the most part, for the past ten years, all I’ve had is William. Pretty much all of my friends stopped hanging out with me because I had a kid. And I wasn’t able to get my dream job because I had to drop out of school so I could focus on being a mom. So when you showed up here and told me you knew he was your son, I knew that it wouldn’t just be me and William anymore...and I guess I got scared.”

“I understand that. I really do. And I can’t imagine what you’ve been through in the last ten years. And I know that it’s my fault...I was the one that got you pregnant. I know I can’t change the past, but that’s why I’m trying to be here now...which is why I want William to know I’m his dad. I’ve lived without my dad for almost nine years and the thought that my own son has to feel that same pain...he deserves to know, Samantha. I don’t just want him to know for my sake. My sister didn’t find out who her real father was until she was 19 and it almost destroyed her. I don’t want William to go through that too.”

Samantha looked at him for a few moments. “I didn’t know about your sister.” Oliver just nodded, not wanting to get into all of that, and then Samantha continued. “I know I should tell him, I just don’t know how.”

“Maybe it would help if we told him together?” Oliver suggested. “We don’t have to tell him right now, my cab’s gonna be here in a few minutes anyway, but I’ll be here tomorrow and Sunday.”

Samantha looked to consider it for a few moments and then nodded. “Alright, come over tomorrow for lunch and we’ll tell him then.”

Oliver smiled once again and thanked her.

Samantha went back inside and then a few minutes later, Oliver’s cab arrived and he went back to his hotel.

On the way back Oliver took out his phone and texted Felicity.

* * *

 

As soon as the door shut and she knew Oliver was gone, Felicity couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

She just couldn’t understand what could be so bad that Oliver was determined to keep lying?

He said he wasn’t cheating and she wanted to believe him, but it was pretty hard to trust him at the moment.

Eventually, the tears ceased to flow, and Felicity remembered that she was going to call Thea to come and stay with her.

Before clicking on Thea’s name to call her, Felicity wiped away the tears from her face and cleared her throat so that Thea wouldn’t know she had been crying.

As the phone rang, Felicity had to bite her cheek to keep a second round of tears from spilling out. However, upon hearing Thea’s cheery greeting when she answered, Felicity couldn’t hold back anymore and a second wave came pouring over.

“Hey Thea.” Felicity tried to sound casual through the sobs.

“What’s wrong?” Thea asked, concern clear in her voice.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Felicity lied as more tears fell from her eyes.

“Yeah, you’re definitely not okay. I’m on my way over.”

Before Felicity could protest or say anything further, Felicity heard the call cut out and knew Thea was gone.

Felicity set her phone down with a sigh and just decided to let herself cry while waiting for Thea to come over. Luckily, Thea still had a key so she would be able to let herself in and Felicity wouldn’t have to move.

Eventually, Felicity managed to stop crying long enough to lift herself out of her chair and onto the couch. And only a few minutes later, Thea walked through the door.

“Okay what’s wrong?” Thea charged in, without any greeting, and plopped herself down on the couch next to Felicity.

“Hello to you too, Thea. Please come in and make yourself at home.” Felicity commented, sarcastically.

“Felicity.” Thea urged. “Why are you crying? What’s wrong? Did Ollie do something?”

Felicity let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah actually.”

“What?” Thea asked. “Ollie did something? What did he do?”

“He just left for Central City and I asked him why he kept taking these trips and he just said he couldn’t tell me. And then he left.” Felicity chocked on the last word as yet another wave of tears came to her eyes and a lump formed in her throat.

“What? What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know. But I told him that when he gets back I don’t want him staying here for a while. And I was actually calling you to ask if you would stay here with me...to help me out, you know.” Felicity explained trying to keep the tears at bay, although her voice was clearly shaking.

The next thing Felicity knew, Thea wrapped her up in a hug and gently rubbed her back.

“Of course I’ll stay. Let me just go back to my place real quick to pack some stuff and tell Laurel that I’ll be gone. But I’ll be right back I promise. And then we can talk.” Thea told her before pulling away and standing up off the couch.

“Oh and Thea?” Felicity called to Thea before she walked out the door.

“Yeah?”

“Could you not tell Laurel what’s going on just yet?”

Thea gave Felicity a small smile and a nod. “Sure thing.”

Moments later, Thea was gone and Felicity was alone again. Before she let her thoughts spiral, she took several deep breaths to keep the tears at bay and then decided that she needed a glass of water...or wine.

Picking herself off the couch and getting into her chair, Felicity wheeled over to the kitchen only to find out the cabinet where they normally kept their alcohol was completely empty.

“Frak!” Felicity exclaimed.

Felicity picked up her phone and shot a quick text to Thea.

 **Felicity:** Could you pick up some wine on your way over? -_-

 **Thea:** Definitely ;)

Felicity went back over to the couch and tried to distract herself with work until Thea got back to keep herself from thinking about Oliver.

Luckily, Thea was back at the loft only a half hour later. Just like before, she let herself in, setting her bags by the door, she went straight to the couch grabbing a corkscrew and two wine glasses from the kitchen on her way.

“I can’t believe that I ran a nightclub when I was eighteen, but I’ve only been able to buy my own alcohol for a couple weeks.” Thea joked as she sat down on the couch and opened one of the three bottles of wine she bought and filled up both their glasses.

“I kinda felt the same way when I turned twenty one.” Felicity replied. “I had my first drink when I was twelve, but I started drinking regularly when I started college so by the time I turned twenty one it was a bit anti-climactic.”

“You had your first drink when you were twelve?! Damn! I didn’t even have my first drink until I was fourteen.”

“Well, I grew up in the seedy part of Vegas so alcohol was not hard to come by. One of my neighbors when I was a kid was a drug dealer.” Felicity huffed out a small laugh and took a sip of wine when she said the last part.

“Oh my god seriously?!”

“Yep.” Felicity nodded.

There was a brief pause in the conversation. Felicity continued to sip on her wine. Felicity knew that Thea was going to ask her about Oliver but she was kind of dreading talking about him.

“So what exactly did Ollie say before he left?” Thea finally asked, breaking the silence.

Felicity gulped down the rest of her glass and poured herself another one before answering. “Last week, when he went out of town, I was feeling pretty crappy wondering why he was taking all these trips all the sudden. So this week I decided to confront him about it. I thought that...maybe...” Felicity trailed off not wanting to admit what she had been thinking.

“What?” Thea gently prodded.

Felicity took a deep breath and another sip of wine before continuing. “I thought that he might be cheating on me.” Felicity admitted. “I mean, the trips started right after my accident and his excuses were so obviously lies and...it’s not like he’s never cheated on anyone before. He said he’s not and I want to believe him, but he said he couldn’t tell me why he goes to Central City and he still left anyway.” Felicity took a couple more gulps of wine to try and swallow the new lump forming in her throat and she also felt fresh tears spring to her eyes.

Thea scooted closer to Felicity and wrapped her arm around Felicity’s shoulder.

“I know this might not count for much,” Thea began, “but Ollie really loves you. I mean, believe me when you guys were living in Ivy Town we would talk on the phone sometimes and all he ever talked about were new recipes he was trying out and you. And when you accepted his proposal, he was smiling bigger than I’ve ever seen him smile before. Don’t get me wrong, he’s being a total asshole for lying to you and I am definitely going to give him a serious lecture about it...or kick his ass, but I know that he loves you more than anyone else and I don’t believe he’s trying to hurt you on purpose.”

“Thanks, Thea. I hope you’re right.” Felicity replied.

“I am right. And if I’m wrong then Ollie is the stupidest guy in the world and I would gladly beat the shit out of him for you.”

Felicity couldn’t help but let a small laugh bubble out from her lips. Moments later, Felicity’s phone buzzed and she reached over her lap to grab it, trying not to spill her wine.

“It’s a text from Oliver.” Felicity told Thea.

“What does it say?” Thea asked.

“‘Hey honey, I know I said I couldn’t tell you why I’ve been going to Central City but I was wrong. As soon as I get back, I’m going to tell you everything, I promise. I’ll see you Sunday. I love you.’” Felicity read the text aloud.

“Well there you go, that sounds good.” Thea said. “At least now I won’t have to kick his ass. I’ll tell you what, let’s order some food, I’ll stay the weekend, and when Ollie gets back and you guys talk, we’ll see how you feel, okay?”

Felicity gave Thea a small smile and nodded. “Okay. That sounds good.”

* * *

 

Oliver woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. Today was the day that he and Samantha would tell William the truth and when Oliver got back to Star City, he could finally tell Felicity the truth.

Oliver tried to keep himself calm, but he was practically buzzing with anticipation. He was nervous about telling William; Oliver hoped that William would accept it, but he also couldn’t help but fear that he wouldn’t. What would he do if William rejected him? They seemed to get along well every time Oliver came to visit and he liked to think that William actually enjoyed spending time with him, but spending time with a guy who was “just a friend of mommy’s” was completely different than spending time with the father you never knew you had.

But Oliver tried not to think about that. He left his hotel room and headed to Jitters to grab a coffee and maybe a pastry for breakfast. Normally, Oliver wasn’t a huge fan of coffee shops and would only go to one if he was with someone else, but Felicity would always make them go to Jitters whenever they were in town so he made an exception.

When Oliver got to Jitters he ordered a black coffee and a blueberry muffin to go before heading back to his hotel room.

Now he just needed to figure out how to bide his time until he could go over to Samantha’s house.

 **Oliver:** Good morning honey. How are you?

Oliver sent off a text to Felicity while he nibbled on his muffin.

 **Felicity:** Morning. I’m fine.

 **Oliver:** Are you still mad at me about last night? I told you that I’m gonna tell you everything as soon as I get back and I will.

 **Felicity:** I’m not mad. Thea came over last night and we talked...and drank. I’m gonna be busy this weekend, I have a lot of work to do. But I’ll see you tomorrow.

Oliver frowned at her text. She obviously didn’t want to talk to him and was trying to end the conversation.

 **Oliver:** Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.

Oliver finished up his muffin and coffee, however Felicity never responded to his last text, but he saw that she read it. He couldn’t wait for this weekend to be over so that he could get home to Felicity and finally stop all the lying once and for all.

* * *

 

Oliver managed to distract himself until lunchtime. He could barely keep himself together during the cab ride to Samantha’s house. When he arrived, William was playing in the front yard.

“Hey kiddo! Whatcha doing?” Oliver greeted William when he got out of the cab.

“Captain Cold and the Flash are about to have their big stand-off.” William replied.

“What did Captain Cold do this time?” Oliver asked as he walked over to where William was.

“This time he robbed a bank. But the Flash got there in time so no one got hurt.”

“Well, the Flash is a pretty great hero. Hey I’m gonna go inside and talk to your mom, but she’ll call you in when lunch is ready.”

“Okay.” William said as he continued to play with his action figures. Oliver would never admit it, but he was a little jealous that William was such a big fan of the Flash. A part of him couldn’t help but wonder if William would be a fan of the Green Arrow if he knew that his father was him.

Oliver headed inside and back towards the kitchen where he could hear Samantha making lunch. Samantha was actually a really good cook which always made Oliver laugh because Felicity couldn’t cook to save her life.

“Hey.” Oliver greeted Samantha whose back was turned to him.

“Oh hey.” She greeted him back. “Lunch should be ready soon. I’m making grilled cheese.”

“Sounds good. I love grilled cheese.” Oliver paused briefly before continuing with what he needed to say. “Have you thought about what we’re going to say to William?”

“Yeah. After we eat, we can sit him down in the living room. The only thing I haven’t really figured out is how to make him understand why we never told him sooner.” Samantha admitted.

“I think as long as we make it clear that our reasons for keeping it a secret had nothing to do with him then, hopefully, it should be fine.”

“I hope.” Samantha said quietly as she put the sandwiches on plates and filled up a glass of milk for William and two glasses of water for herself and Oliver.

Even if Oliver and Samantha weren’t that close, it didn’t take a genius to tell that there was something still bothering her.

“Everything alright?” Oliver asked, hoping that he hadn’t crossed a line.

Samantha sighed and looked down at her hands before blurting out “I just don’t want him to hate me. All I’ve been able to think about is what if we tell him that I’ve been lying to him about his father his whole life and he hates me for it and never wants to speak to me again?”

Oliver decided to take a chance and place his hand gently on her shoulder. “He’s not going to hate you. No matter what happens, you’re his mother and that’s never gonna change. A couple years ago, I found out my mom was lying to me about something huge, and yes, I was angry at her for a while but I never hated her, not really. And eventually, I realized that she wasn’t lying to me to be cruel, she was just trying to protect me. I know how much you love William and I promise you, no matter what happens, even if he’s mad at you for a while, he will never hate you.”

Samantha slowly looked up at him and then gave him a soft smile. “Thank you, Oliver. I really appreciate that.”

Oliver nodded before backing away and taking a seat at the kitchen table while Samantha went outside to get William.

The three of them ate their lunch while William told Oliver and Samantha about what he’d been learning in school that week. And whenever William talked about how much he loved science and math, Oliver couldn’t help but think about how much he and Felicity would get along and how he couldn’t wait for them to meet.

“Hey sweetheart, Oliver and I want to talk to you in the living room.” Samantha told William as she collected their dishes and went to put them in the sink.

William, poor kid, looked absolutely terrified. Oliver tried to reassure him with a smile. “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.”

Unfortunately, Oliver didn’t think his reassurance worked because William continued to look pretty freaked out as he and Oliver headed into the living room while they waited for Samantha.

Finally, Samantha came into the living room and sat down on the couch next to Oliver while William sat in the chair across from them.

“William...” Samantha began “you know that I love you very much—“

“Are you two getting married?” William blurted out effectively cutting Samantha off.

“What?” Oliver and Samantha asked simultaneously.

“Mikey Williams’ mom got divorced last year and then a couple months ago this guy started hanging out at his mom’s house and then it turned out that this guy was dating his mom and they just got married.” William explained.

Oliver and Samantha just stared at each other and Oliver had to admit that William wasn’t crazy for thinking that. Oliver would’ve probably thought the same thing if he was in William’s position.

Finally, Oliver was the one to speak up because it didn’t seem like Samantha could find the words. “Um no, buddy, we’re not getting married.”

“Oh okay.” William said although Oliver swore that William maybe looked a little disappointed.

“Is that okay?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah it’s totally okay.” William waved his hand dismissively but after Oliver gave him a look silently encouraging him that he could tell the truth, William spoke again. “It’s just that, I’ve never had a dad and all my friends have one...”

“You know, honey,” Samantha chimed in “your dad is actually what we wanted to talk to you about.” William perked up at that. “So you know how I always told you that your dad was gone but it was okay because you didn’t need a dad—“

“Because all we need is each other.” William finished. “Yeah, I know.”

“Well, that wasn’t exactly true.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, your dad isn’t gone he’s actually here.” Samantha continued.

“What do you mean?” William asked.

“I’m your dad, kiddo.” Oliver finished for Samantha. He thought it would sound better if he said it himself. William just stared between the two of them so Oliver continued. “Your mom and I met a long time ago, just before you were born. And your mom thought it would be best if she raised you by herself for a while.” Oliver was grateful that he had taken the time to think this through because he wanted to make sure that William would understand without giving him the whole truth because the truth was that he and Samantha had gotten drunk at a college party and then Samantha kept William a secret because she had been intimidated by Oliver’s mother. Oliver felt like that truth was a little too harsh for a nine-almost-ten year old to understand. “And we don’t want you to think this is, in any way, your fault. We were both young and we just wanted to do what we thought was best for you,”

“We both love you very much.” Samantha stated and Oliver’s heart swelled at her words because, yes, even though he had only been in William’s life for a few weeks, he did love William very much.

“And we understand if you need some time to process. We know it’s a lot.” Oliver told William.

“No I get it.” William said. “I get it. You’ve been lying to me my whole life.”

But before either Oliver or Samantha could say anything more, William ran up to his room and slammed the door shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re interested, here’s some of the thoughts I had while writing:  
> One thing was that I always wanted to know more about Samantha and what it might’ve been like for her when she got pregnant so I tried to explore a little bit of her backstory and her perspective on this whole situation.  
> I also wished the show had explored Felicity and Thea’s relationship more so there’s gonna be a lot of Felicity & Thea in this fic.


	2. Chapter 2

Oliver and Samantha stared after William’s retreating form as he ran up to his bedroom. Next to him, Oliver could feel Samantha jump slightly when William’s bedroom door slammed shut and a few moments later, Oliver heard Samantha begin to cry.

“I knew this would happen.” Samantha said through her tears. “I knew he would hate me!”

“He doesn’t hate you.” Oliver tried to reassure her. “I told you he’d probably be angry for a bit, but then eventually, he would get over it. Look, I think, right now, maybe we should just give him some space to calm down and then try to talk to him again later, okay?” Samantha didn’t respond, but Oliver did see her nod her head so he took that as agreement. “Okay. If you don’t mind, I’m just gonna go call Felicity real quick to check in. When I get back we can try talking to William again.” Samantha nodded her head once again and Oliver took that as his cue to leave.

Oliver stepped into the other room and clicked on Felicity’s contact to dial her number. The phone rang several times and Oliver feared that Felicity was ignoring him, but he tried to reassure himself that maybe she was just busy working on her presentation to the board or just having a lot of fun with Thea. Eventually, though, she did pick up and Oliver couldn’t help the sigh of relief that fell from his lips.

“Hey Oliver.” Felicity’s voice greeted him when she answered. Her tone seemed pleasant enough, so that was a good sign.

“Hey baby. How are you?” Oliver asked her in the sweetest tone he could manage.

“I’m fine. I’m working on my presentation for the board.”

“I hope you’re not working too hard.” Oliver replied. Oliver was so proud of Felicity for how well she had been running Palmer Tech, it even made him think that, when he was running Queen Consolidated, maybe he should’ve made _her_ CEO and _he_ should’ve been the executive assistant. But, Felicity did have a tendency to get too immersed in a project—she wouldn’t sleep for days on end and he would practically have to force her to eat—and, of course, he loved that she was so passionate about her work, but he still needed her to take care of herself.

“No. Thea’s making sure I take breaks every couple of hours. She even managed to get me to take a nap.”

Felicity’s words caused a smile to spread across Oliver’s face. “Wow. Well, remind me to thank her properly when I get back.” He told her. “Speaking of...I should be back tomorrow morning before lunch time. And like I said, when I get back I’ll tell—“

“Tell me everything, yeah I know.”Felicity finished for him. “I hope you do. Because I want this to work, Oliver. I want _us_ to work.”

“I want that too.” Oliver assured her. “There is nothing in the world I want more than to be your husband. And I swear there’s gonna be no more lies. But you have to promise me something.”

“What?”

“Promise me that when I do tell you the truth, you’ll understand why I kept it from you. I didn’t want to and believe me, not being able to tell you is killing me, but I really felt like I didn’t have any other choice.”

Oliver heard Felicity sigh over the phone. “That depends on what you’ve been keeping from me.”

Oliver nodded his head even though he knew Felicity couldn’t see him. “Tomorrow. I want to tell you in person, not over the phone. Okay?”

There was a brief pause before Felicity finally replied. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Oliver smiled at her words. “Yeah. I love you so much, honey.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

Oliver said his goodbye and then he heard the call go silent. She didn’t seem too upset and she seemed willing to listen to him. That was a start. And hopefully, once he was able to finally tell her about William everything would go back to normal between them.

Oliver walked back into the living room where Samantha was still sitting, except she wasn’t crying anymore; instead she was just staring intently at Oliver.

“What?” Oliver asked as he stopped in his tracks before he reached the couch.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation just now...or, at least, _your_ side of the conversation.” Samantha confessed.

“Oh” Oliver said as he shifted his weight and looked down at his feet sheepishly.

“‘There is nothing in the world I want more than to be your husband.’” Samantha quoted him. “The Oliver Queen that I knew in college would’ve rather jumped off a building then gotten married. And now it’s like you can’t get married fast enough.”

Oliver tried to fight it, but a slight blush crept over his skin. “Well, I guess I just had to meet the right woman.” There was a brief silence between them before Oliver cleared his throat. “Should we try to talk to William again?” Oliver asked.

“Sure.” Samantha nodded her head and stood up from the couch.

Oliver and Samantha decided to head upstairs to William’s bedroom and talk to him there.

William was still upset that they had lied, but eventually the three of them came to an agreement that Oliver would continue to come to visit whenever he could. And after the three of them finished their talk, Oliver and Samantha agreed that one day, when William had fully come to terms with the situation, they could work out some kind of official custody agreement that would allow Oliver to have joint custody.

“And...” Oliver added as he waited for his cab on the front porch, “if it’s okay with you, I want Felicity to be able to meet William. Especially since, if everything goes well when I talk to her tomorrow, she’s gonna be William’s step-mother.” Samantha looked a little unsure and Oliver could understand why. “I’m not saying that they have to meet right now, but one day. William’s my son and Felicity’s gonna be my wife and it’s important to me that they have a good relationship. I know that all of this would be so much easier if I were single because then William would only have to worry about adding a father to his life instead of a father and a step-mother. But I’m not single. So this is how I want it to be.”

There was momentary silence between them as Samantha seemed to think about his words until she nodded. “You’re right. If Felicity’s going to be his step-mother then they should know each other. But on one condition. I want to meet Felicity too. I’m sure she’s a wonderful person and it’s not that I don’t trust her or anything, it’s just, I like to know the people in my son’s life. So, when things settle down a bit, maybe sometime before the wedding, William and I could visit Star City and the four of us could do something together.”

“I’d really like that.” Oliver nodded with a smile.

“Great. Well, I hope things go well with Felicity and I guess I’ll see you soon.” Samantha said.

“Yeah. And thank you.”

Samantha and Oliver exchanged one last nod and smile before Samantha went back inside the house and Oliver continued to wait for his cab outside.

* * *

 

The next morning Oliver woke up bright and early like he always did—although one could argue that there was no need for him to wake up since he barely got any sleep anyway. Oliver never really realized it until he started taking these trips to Central City that he had stopped having nightmares as often when he and Felicity started living together. For the past eight-almost-nine years he had gotten so used to having nightmares every time he closed his eyes, but when he started sharing a bed with Felicity on a regular basis, he was able to sleep through the night without a problem. He wasn’t sure exactly why; maybe it was her warm skin or just her general presence that calmed him, but either way, whenever he had to sleep without her, it put him on edge.

As cheesy as it sounded, that’s how Oliver knew that Felicity was his home. Because just being around her made him calmer and whenever there were bad things going on around him, his instinct had become to pull her closer. He learned that lesson over the last year when he pushed Felicity away because he thought it was for the best, but he spent the whole year constantly on edge just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the next bad thing to happen, and being with Felicity made him realize that he didn’t want to live like that anymore.

Oliver headed out of his hotel room and went to Jitters for his morning coffee. He didn’t have to leave for the train station until nine o’clock and he had already packed the night before so that gave him about an hour to kill. He decided to go back to his hotel and just watch some TV until it was time for him to check out.

 **Oliver:** Good morning beautiful. :) I should be home around 11:30. I can’t wait to see you.

 **Felicity:** Is it morning?

Oliver let out a loud sigh as he read Felicity’s text.

 **Oliver:** Don’t tell me you stayed up all night.

 **Felicity:** I had a lot of work to do.

Oliver rolled his eyes and then thanked the heavens that Felicity couldn’t see him.

 **Oliver:** Go to bed honey. Get some sleep. I’ll wake you up when I get home.

Oliver didn’t hear back from her after that so he assumed— _hoped_ —that she actually did what he told her and went to bed.

Eventually, it was finally time to leave. Oliver checked out of his hotel and took a cab to the train station. The closer he got to Star City, the more anxious he became. He kept flipping back and forth between total confidence and utter terror. He just wanted, _needed_ , Felicity to understand. He needed her to understand why he’d been keeping this from her and he needed her to be able to accept the situation.

As the train sped closer and closer to home, an image formed in Oliver’s head: him and Felicity at a picnic with William and a couple kids of their own. Maybe they’d even get a dog; Oliver knew how much Felicity wanted a dog ever since she was young. She had told him the story about Lucky, the little terrier she had as a kid. The dog they had to give away when her dad left because their new apartment didn’t allow pets. She was devastated over losing Lucky so Oliver promised her that they’d get their own dog one day.

The picture Oliver had in his head of their family was so clear and it filled Oliver with so much joy he thought his heart would burst. He couldn’t even believe that this thought made him so happy. Samantha was right that, in the past, Oliver would’ve rather jumped off a building than gotten married. Hell, when Laurel asked him to move in with her, he literally jumped on a boat with her sister; he couldn’t get away fast enough. But with Felicity, it was like all he could think about was living together and getting married and having a family.

Oliver remembered the day that baby Sara Diggle was born and how seeing Felicity standing over her was so overwhelming he thought his heart would never unclench. Because when he stood in that hospital room, he wasn’t seeing Sara and Lyla, he was seeing Felicity holding a child— _their_ child. And the image of that hit him like a tidal wave. And all he knew was that he wanted that more than anything.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime but somehow also no time at all, Oliver’s train stopped in Star City. Oliver didn’t even wait until the train was at a complete stop before he jumped up from his seat, grabbed his bag, and raced over to the door just waiting for it to open. _Dammit,_ _why_ _wasn’t_ _it_ _opening_ _already?!_

Finally, _finally_ , the door opened and Oliver practically sprinted out. He had to remind himself to stay calm and walk through the station like a normal person.

He got stopped, not once, but _twice_ on his way to the door by people telling him that they would be voting for him for mayor. He tried to be nice and cordial to those people, but he also just wanted them to get the _hell_ out of his way so he could get home to his fiancée.

Eventually, Oliver managed to get out of the station without anymore interruptions and he made his way to the long-term parking lot where his car was—both Felicity and Thea had insisted that he get a car because they didn’t think it was appropriate for the future Mayor of Star City’s primary mode of transportation to be a motorcycle.

Oliver practically sprinted to his car and was barely inside and buckled up before he started it and peeled out. He knew that he should probably have a little more class and composure, but he was just so excited to finally be able to tell Felicity the truth, he couldn’t help himself. Even if she rejected it, at least he wouldn’t have to carry around the weight of the lie anymore.

When Oliver got to his building, he parked the car on the street instead of in the tenant’s garage because it would be faster and he could move it later. Once inside, he took the stairs two at a time, instead of the elevator, so he could get up to the loft as quickly as possible.

However, once he reached the front door, he forced himself to stop and take several deep breaths. Not just because he was slightly winded because of all the running, but also because his nerves had started to creep up and he needed to calm them.

 _Everything’s_ _gonna_ _be_ _fine._ _Everything’s_ _gonna_ _be_ _fine._

Oliver repeated the mantra in his head as he pulled out his keys and opened the front door.

“Felicity, it’s break time!” Oliver heard Thea call from the kitchen.

“I’m almost done with this section. Just give me a sec.” Felicity called back, her voice coming from the couch.

“You can finish it after break.” Thea argued.

“I don’t want to lose my train of thought.” Felicity continued, making no move to get up.

“Felicity Megan Smoak, if you don’t get your ass off that couch right now—!” Thea started, but Oliver cut her off—subsequently alerting them of his presence.

“Speedy!”

Thea stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him, but the expression on her face wasn’t happy. “Ollie, you’re back. How was Central City?”

Oliver glanced over to Felicity, who had turned to look at him, before looking back at Thea. “It was good.” Oliver answered. “Actually, Speedy, if you don’t mind—“ he was cut off as Thea waved her hand dismissively.

“Say no more. I actually have to go pick up some stuff at the market down the street anyway.” Thea said. She grabbed her jacket and purse before heading towards the front door. Before she reached it, though, she stopped next to Oliver to whisper in his ear. “I swear to god, Ollie, if you break her heart, I’ll break your neck.” Thea gave him a pointed look before leaving the loft.

After Thea left, Oliver took his coat off and put his keys in the tray. In his haste, he had left his bag and everything else in his car. He saw Felicity return to her work and wondered what she was thinking. Oliver pulled his shoes off and set them at the foot of the stairs, taking some more steadying breaths to calm himself.

 _Everything’s_ _gonna_ _be_ _fine._

Oliver made his way over to the living room and sat down on the couch across from her. A brief memory flashed through his mind of the last time they had sex on that couch.

 _Not_ _the_ _time!_ he chided himself.

“Hey.” Oliver quietly called out to her. She said ‘hey’ back but didn’t look up from her laptop. He sighed, “Felicity, I said that we would talk as soon as I got back. Well, I’m back. So, let’s talk. Please. I want to tell you everything.”

Felicity looked up at him before shutting her laptop and setting it to the side. She was sitting cross-legged on the couch with a blanket draped over her lap.

Felicity looked at him intently, but he stayed silent. Eventually, Felicity made a gesture with her hands indicating for him to start talking, but he came up blank. He let out a small, breathy chuckle. “I’ve thought about what I wanted to say, but now that I’m actually here, I don’t know where to start.”

“At the beginning would be great.” Felicity stated.

“Right. The beginning.” Oliver began to absentmindedly rub his thumb and forefinger together as he gathered his thoughts. “Do you remember, a few months ago when we went to Central City to take down Vandal Savage?”

“Yeah.” Felicity nodded.

“Well, while we were there, I ran into someone from my past. Her name is Samantha Clayton. I met her back when I was in college.” While Oliver spoke, he hadn’t realized that he had been looking down at his feet. He forced his eyes to look up at her and, when he did, he saw that she looked tense, as if she was bracing herself for some terrible news. And then he remembered how she thought he was going to Central City because he was cheating on her and realized how what he’d just said sounded. “It’s not like that.” Oliver defended. “I told you I’m not cheating on you...” Oliver trailed off and let out another sigh. “I don’t know if I’m really explaining this right.”

“Then just come right out and say it. Stop beating around the bush.” Felicity demanded.

“You’re the one that wanted me to start at the beginning!” Oliver argued. He was met with a pointed look which made him avert his eyes in contrition. “Sorry. I didn’t—I didn’t mean that.”

“Oliver, just tell me. Please.” Felicity begged.

Oliver took another deep breath and looked up at Felicity, meeting her eyes. “I have a son. I’ve been going to Central City to spend time with him. Samantha Clayton is his mother. Like I said, I met her in college. We were at a party one night, we were both pretty drunk. It was just the one time...I was still dating Laurel at the time, but we had gotten into this fight the same day. I guess I slept with Samantha out of spite.” Oliver felt himself begin to babble and it almost made him laugh. “Anyway...that doesn’t matter. But, about a month or so after it happened—the school year had ended by then so I had gone back home—Samantha called me and told me she wanted to meet me. I thought it was weird she was in Starling because she was from Central City. But anyway, that’s when she told me the news.” Oliver checked to make sure Felicity was still listening before continuing, “I told my mom that I had gotten Samantha pregnant and then about a week later, Samantha called me and told me that she had a miscarriage. It turns out that my mom paid her a million dollars to lie to me and never speak to me again. So when we were in Central City and I ran into William—that’s his name, William—and saw him with her, I didn’t want to believe it at first. I told myself that it was impossible because she told me she’d had a miscarriage. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it until I knew for sure. So, I took some of William’s hair from his baseball cap when Samantha dropped it on the ground and I had Barry run a paternity test...”

“That’s why you were acting so weird.” Felicity concluded.

“Yeah.” Oliver confirmed. “After that, I went to Samantha and told her that I knew. That’s when she told me about what my mom did. And she also said that if I wanted to have a relationship with him, no one could know. I wanted to tell you, but Samantha said it was the only way and...and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get to know my son. Especially because I’ve lived without my own father for so long and I didn’t want him to know that pain.”

“Does William know? That you’re his father?” Felicity asked.

“Yeah. Samantha and I told him yesterday. He wasn’t very happy at first, but he seemed to accept it by the time I left. I’m sure, the more often I see him, the easier it’ll be for him to come to terms with it.”

Felicity nodded, but then a long silence lapsed between them. Oliver decided to stay quiet, figuring that she just needed some time to process everything, but eventually, he just couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

“Please say something.” Oliver quietly begged.

“Just to be clear, I don’t care that you have a child. Though I don’t really understand who makes that kind of ultimatum.”

“Samantha was just trying to protect her son. Can you blame her? This life I lead, isn’t exactly the safest.”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t know you’re the Green Arrow...unless you told her.”

“No, she doesn’t know I’m the Green Arrow. But, the last time she saw me, I was not a good guy. She didn’t know that I’ve changed.”

“Does she know now?”

“Yes. That’s why she said I could tell you.”

Felicity looked at him with a tilt of her head then. “So you didn’t decide to tell me on your own. _She_ gave you permission.”

Oliver held his hands up in defense. “Felicity, I told you. She explicitly said I couldn’t tell anyone. I begged her to let me tell you.”

Felicity looked down at her hands and played with her engagement ring. “I understand the position Samantha put you in. I know it was an impossible decision. And I appreciate how you tried to change her mind.” Felicity looked back up at him before continuing. “But marriage is about _inclusion_. It’s about leaning on your partner when things get complicated. And if we’re going to get married, I need to know that you know how to do that.”

“I’m trying.” Oliver managed to choke out as a lump formed in his throat.

“Maybe we should put the wedding on hold for a while. Because, if I’m being completely honest, I don’t know if I can trust you right now and I can’t marry someone I don’t trust.”

Oliver felt hot tears spring to his eyes and he clenched his jaw to keep them from falling. This was turning into his worst-case scenario. “Are you breaking up with me?”

“No.” Felicity stated. “No. I just think that maybe we need to slow down a bit.”

“Are you sure you’re not breaking up with me? Because it really sounds like you are.”

Oliver wasn’t looking at Felicity because he was too busy trying to keep himself from breaking down in tears to notice her getting into her chair and going over to him and then placing her hands on top of his.

“Oliver, I love you. Despite everything, I do love you. And it’s because I love you that I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. Yes, I’m really angry that you lied and I need some space for a while. But I’m not giving up on you. I just want you to trust me more. I want you to know that you _can_ trust me and you can lean on me when things get tough.”

“I _do_ trust you.”

“Then show me.” Felicity stated. “Until then, you can have the loft, I’ll go stay with Laurel and Thea; I’m sure they won’t mind.”

Oliver wanted to continue talking, hoping that he could convince her this wasn’t necessary, but he quickly realized that her mind was set and there was no point in arguing.

“Felicity, don’t be ridiculous, you can stay here.”

“No, it’s okay. Laurel’s place doesn’t have stairs anyway so it’d be easier for me. And you probably don’t want to stay with John and Lyla; they’d probably just use you as a free babysitter.” Felicity gave his hands a gentle squeeze before pulling away and grabbing her phone. “I’m gonna call Thea.”

“Wait, Felicity. You can’t tell her about William.”

Felicity sighed and just looked at him for a few moments before finally nodding once. “Fine. I’ll keep your secret.” Oliver was about to say thank you but she cut him off just as he was opening his mouth. “For now. But you _will_ have to tell her eventually. She deserves to know that she has a nephew.”

Oliver nodded in understanding before going upstairs to give Felicity some privacy. She was right; he would have to tell Thea. Oliver hoped that, once he was elected mayor, he wouldn’t have to keep William a secret from anyone anymore. Of course, he also knew what could happen if his enemies knew he had a son, but he had to trust himself that he could protect William.

Once Oliver reached the bedroom, he couldn’t help himself and flopped down on the bed. He knew he should go move his car and get his bag and unpack, but he could do that later. Right now he just wanted to relish the feeling that Felicity finally knew the truth. Sure, she said she needed space and she wanted to put a hold on their engagement, but she hadn’t broken up with him completely which meant there was still hope. He could live with that.

One day, and hopefully not too far off in the future, Felicity would forgive him and then that vision of their future he had on the train would come true.


	3. Chapter 3

It had only been a few days since Felicity moved out of the loft and she was still getting used to having to drive to Laurel’s apartment after work. The first night, she actually drove in the direction of the loft and was halfway there before she realized where she was going and had to turn back.

It did make her sad, and sometimes she wanted to go back to him, but she had to remind herself that this separation was for the best. He was never going to learn if she gave him a free pass every time he screwed up.

Felicity got back to Laurel’s place and was on her way to her room when Laurel stopped her.

“Hey, do you know where we’re going for dinner tonight?” Laurel asked.

“We’re going out to dinner tonight?” Felicity looked up at her, confused.

“Yeah, we’re supposed to have dinner with our parents tonight? Your mom and my dad have wanted the four of us to do something together ever since they started dating.” Laurel explained.

Felicity smacked her leg as realization dawned on her. “Frak! You’re right, I totally forgot. Um...I don’t know where we’re going, you’d have to text your dad. Or I can text my mom.”

“I’ll text my dad.” Laurel offered while pulling out her phone to send said text.

“Okay so my dad says we’re going to Anton’s. It’s a steakhouse. He wants us to meet him and Donna there at 6:30.” Laurel said a few moments later.

“Great. Can’t wait. Dinner with the parents.” Felicity said less than enthusiastically.

“It can’t be that bad, right?”

“You’ve met my mom.” Felicity responded. “Honestly, I don’t know how the two of them ended up together. I guess opposites really do attract.”

“Right.” Laurel chuckled. “Well, it’s almost six now, so I’m gonna go get ready.”

“Yeah me too.” Felicity agreed. “Oh and Laurel?” Felicity asked and Laurel spun around to face her.

“Yeah?”

“Could you not say anything about me and Oliver? It’s just, I haven’t told my mom yet and she’s gonna have questions I can’t answer so...”

“Sure thing.” Laurel responded with a small smile. “My lips are sealed.”

“Thanks.”

“You never did say...what happened between you and Ollie. All Thea told me was just that you needed a place to stay for a while.” Laurel said. Felicity didn’t respond, unsure of what to say. “I’m sorry.” Laurel continued with a sheepish chuckle. “This is weird...the two of us talking about this...”

“No, actually, it’s okay.” Felicity tried to reassure her. “I mean, if anyone could understand what it’s like to date Oliver Queen, it’s you. It’s not weird, it’s just...I kinda promised Oliver I wouldn’t tell anyone so...”

Laurel held her hands up. “Say no more, I understand. I’m gonna go get ready.” Laurel said gesturing to her bedroom. Felicity nodded and then headed in the direction of her own room...well, technically, Thea’s room, but Thea was sleeping on the couch so it was Felicity’s room for the time being.

* * *

 

About twenty minutes later the two of them were in Laurel’s car and on their way to Anton’s.

They sat in silence for most of the car ride, only making some small talk as they got closer to the restaurant.

Laurel and Felicity weren’t really that close. They were teammates and they were friendly with each other, but they had never really become _friends_. Not because they hated each other or anything like that, they just didn’t have much in common. They both loved their work, but their jobs were very different. Laurel couldn’t drink and Felicity couldn’t live without her wine. They didn’t really like any of the same TV shows or movies or books. Laurel mostly watched true crime shows which freaked Felicity out. Felicity was much closer to Thea; they actually had a lot in common. They loved to shop together, they liked the same music and a lot of the same TV shows. Thea wasn’t into any of the sci-fi and fantasy stuff that Felicity liked, but they both loved Friday Night Lights and One Tree Hill and other shows like that.

They pulled into the parking lot of Anton’s a few minutes after 6:30 and went inside to find that Lance and her mom had already arrived.

“There you two are!” Her mom greeted them enthusiastically with a big smile. “It’s so good to see you again, Laurel!” She said as she pulled Laurel in for a hug.

“It’s good to see you too, Donna.” Laurel smiled as she hugged Donna back.

“And you too, baby girl! How are you?” She asked as she pulled away from Laurel and leaned down to give Felicity a hug.

“I’m doing good, Mom.” Felicity responded. “It’s good to see you, Captain Lance.” Felicity greeted Lance after her mom pulled away.

“You know, I think it’s okay if you call me Quentin.” Lance responded.

“Okay. Quentin.” Felicity nodded.

“Lance party of four?” The hostess said, suddenly, then lead the four of them to their table.

They were seated at a table near the entrance. The hostess handed them their menus and told them their server would be there soon before leaving.

Laurel and Felicity sat next to each other on one side of the table while Quentin and Donna sat on the other side. Laurel sat across from her father and Felicity sat across from her mother.

“Oh I’m so glad we finally got to do this!” Donna commented, enthusiastically.

“Well, I’m glad to finally get the chance to get to know the new woman in my dad’s life.” Laurel replied.

Their waitress—Lenore—arrived moments later and took their drink orders before departing again.

“So, Laurel,” Donna began, “how do you like working at the District Attorney’s office?”

“I love it.” Laurel replied with a smile. “I like thinking that I’m helping make the city safer.”

“Well, like father, like daughter.” Donna commented, glancing at Quentin with a smile.

The rest of the night continued with the four of them making small talk about work and family etc.

It was nice for Felicity to get to know Laurel and Quentin more and it also gave her the chance to observe Quentin and her mom. Her mom seemed so happy and Quentin seemed to genuinely like her which made Felicity happy. Most of her childhood had consisted of her listening from the top of the stairs while her parents fought in the living room or the kitchen so seeing her mom with someone who actually enjoyed being with her and made her so happy made Felicity’s heart fill with warmth. Despite all of their differences, Felicity really loved her mom and wanted her to be happy.

After they had finished their meal, the four of them headed out to the parking lot where Quentin’s and Laurel’s cars were parked. Felicity promised her mom they would talk later before she got in the car with Laurel and her mom got in the car with Quentin and the two cars went their separate ways.

About half an hour or so after Laurel and Felicity arrived back at Laurel’s place, Felicity got a text from her mother.

 **Donna:** Hey baby girl! I’m on my way over to the loft! See u in a bit (:

 **Felicity:** Oh actually I’m at Laurel’s place.

Well, there was no going back now. Felicity would have to explain why she was at Laurel’s instead of the loft.

 **Donna:** Oh ok. I’ll head over there then (;

 _Or_ _maybe_ _not._

 **Felicity:** Okay, see you in a bit. :)

Felicity’s mom arrived about fifteen minutes later.

“You know, we could go somewhere else. I’d feel weird talking about Quentin with Laurel close by.” Donna commented when she walked in.

“Actually, Laurel went over to one of her co-workers houses about twenty minutes ago to work on a case. And Thea, who lives here too, is working late at the campaign office.” Felicity told her mom, although both of those things were lies because Laurel and Thea had actually both gone to the Bunker to train.

“Oh okay.” Her mom replied. Felicity gestured for her to sit down on the couch before she pulled herself out of her chair and did the same.

“So you and Quentin seem happy.” Felicity observed once she was situated on the couch.

“Yeah we are.” Her mom replied as a wide grin spread across her face. “I really like him.” She confessed.

“And you’re happy? He makes you happy?” Felicity asked.

“Yes he does. I’m very happy.”

“Good. I want you to be happy. You deserve it.”

“Thanks, baby girl. You know, I’ve had other boyfriends since your dad but none of them were really serious. Those relationships were mostly superficial.” Donna confessed somberly. “But with Quentin...he doesn’t see me as just a pretty face, ya know? I feel like we really get each other. We’re both divorced single parents, we both have children that we struggle to connect with sometimes...” Donna said giving Felicity a knowing look and Felicity just rolled her eyes which caused Donna to laugh. “But seriously, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Even with your dad, I loved him but we were just too different and I think I always knew in the back of my head that the only thing that really kept us together for so long was you.”

“Oh great. So you stayed in a loveless marriage for nearly ten years because of me.” Felicity replied less than enthusiastically.

“That’s not exactly what I meant.” Donna defended. “And our marriage wasn’t completely loveless. At least, not at the beginning. Believe it or not, we were actually happy at one point. But, of course, the one thing that we were always good at was sex.”

“Oh my god, stop right there!” Felicity demanded. “I don’t want to hear another word.”

“Oh please, honey, we’re both adults. And I know you’re not a virgin.”

Felicity put her hands over her ears to try to block out her mom’s voice. “Nope. Nope. _Nope_. I don’t want to think about you...doing that. And I’m definitely not gonna talk to you about _my_... _ugh_...” Felicity shivered at the thought.

“Fine.” Her mom conceded and Felicity pulled her hands away from her ears. “We won’t talk about the ‘s’ word.”

“Good.” Felicity nodded once.

“But speaking of relationships,” Donna began again, “how are you and Oliver doing? I feel like it’s been forever since the last time I asked.”

“We’re fine.” Felicity lied.

Felicity’s mom was quiet for a few moments before replying. “No, you’re not. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. We’re fine.”

“Felicity, uh-uh-uh. Talk to me.”

Felicity played with her fingers in her lap for a few moments before sighing in defeat. “Fine. We’re not fine.” Felicity admitted.

“What happened?”

“I can’t really tell you the specifics but...Oliver kept something from me that was kind of huge. And...I don’t know...I’m just not really sure if I can trust him anymore. I told him I didn’t want to break up, but I did decide I wanted to postpone the wedding for a while. I can’t marry someone I don’t trust.”

“What did he lie about?”

Felicity sighed. “I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone. But it’s pretty huge. Like life-altering huge.”

“Is he like secretly gay or something?” Her mom asked.

Felicity looked at her mom and her mouth fell open. “What? _No!_ He’s not gay! I told you I can’t tell you what it is.”

Donna held her hands up in defeat. “Alright, fine, you can’t tell me.” Donna grabbed Felicity’s hands and forced Felicity to meet her eyes. “Look, sweetie, I completely understand your feelings about trust. Believe me. After all, both our trust issues stem from the same man. But Oliver’s not your father. He loves you and I’m sure he didn’t mean to hurt you on purpose.”

“So you think I should just shrug and say ‘oh well, no big deal.’ How will he ever learn if I just let him get away with everything?”

“That’s not what I think. Look, baby, do you love him?” Donna asked and Felicity nodded. “Then he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Give him the chance to earn back your trust.”

“And what if he still doesn’t change?”

“Then you’ll know.” Donna replied.

“Know what?”

“The mistake I made with your father was I kept giving him second chances no matter how many times he lied. I wasted so much time trying to convince myself that he would eventually change, by the time I realized he never would, we had built an entire life together and him leaving ruined everything. I had stopped working when we got married to be a full-time mom so I had no money without him. And because of that I lost the house and we had to move to that apartment. You lost your father and I had to work so much just to make ends meet that I barely got to spend any time with you. I gave your father everything and I was nothing without him. You won’t make that mistake. If Oliver turns out to not be the guy you thought he was, you’ll be able to get out with minimal damage to yourself. Sure, you’ll be heartbroken for a while, but that will heal with time. You’ll still have your job and your money and, most importantly, your self-worth.

 _But_ , I know that things between you and Oliver will work out. Because, like I said, Oliver’s not your father. He’s a good man who loves you more than anything. And he’s hot. And he cooks. Felicity, you cannot let him go; he’s the whole package.”

Her last words caused Felicity to roll her eyes but also let out a laugh.

Felicity leaned forward to wrap her mom up in a hug. “Thanks, Mom. I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby girl.” Donna said as she hugged Felicity back.

* * *

 

The next few days were a bit chaotic. The board decided to move the presentation about Curtis’ battery up from April. Luckily, Felicity was an over-achiever and the presentation was already pretty much done, she just had to put a few finishing touches on it. Then, Thea started suffering some crazy side effects from the Lazarus Pit. And also Roy came back because he was being blackmailed by some crazy cyber-terrorist with a stupid nickname.

But as cold as it sounded, Felicity couldn’t really think about any of that at the moment because she had to focus on her presentation. Not only could this battery revolutionize technology and potentially change the world as they knew it, but the entire future of the company—and Felicity’s place in it—was riding on this presentation going well.

 _No_ _pressure._

Not to mention, now that she was in a wheelchair no one had any faith in her that she could still do her job.

Still... _the_ _show_ _must_ _go_ _on._

Felicity peered into the conference room to see the room filled with people, although she was too distracted by the enormous pressure to really make out any faces. The whole audience just kinda looked like an amorphous blob.

Felicity took a deep breath before entering the room. She tried to block out the audience as best she could and just focus on her presentation—which, apparently, went well because the next thing she knew, everyone started clapping.

She stayed at the front of the room as everyone filtered out—everyone telling her she did a great job as they went.

Soon, she noticed Oliver standing nearby.

“Oliver.” She greeted him. “I didn’t think you’d be here.”

“I wanted to support you.” He replied with a smile and she couldn’t help but smile at him slightly in return. “You were amazing, by the way.”

“Thank you.” She blushed.

“Well, I’m gonna go check on Thea.” He told her after a few moments.

“Let me know how she is?”

“Sure.” Oliver agreed, “I’ll text you.”

The two of them parted ways after that—Oliver heading to the elevator and Felicity staying in the conference room.

She spoke to the board after Oliver left and they told her they’d have a meeting the next day to decide whether or not to go ahead with the project.

After they left, Felicity was left alone in the conference room...or so she thought. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed there was one person still lingering and when she turned to look at them head-on, she stopped dead in her tracks.

“Oh my god.” She muttered. There was no mistaking that face. He was a bit older now; his face was slightly wrinkled and his hair had gone gray, but it was definitely him. “Dad?”

“Hi sweetheart.” He greeted her with a small smile.

Felicity cringed internally at the term of endearment. “Don’t call me that.”

Felicity tried to turn away from him and leave the room, but he just stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

“Im sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He apologized.

Felicity scoffed. “It’s about eighteen years too late for that.” Felicity tried to get past him again, but he blocked her path _again_.

“Look, I know it’s been a long time. But that’s why I’m here. I want to talk.”

Felicity looked up at him bewildered. “You’ve been gone for eighteen years...and you just wanna _talk_.”

“I want to explain everything.”

“I don’t care.” Felicity told him bluntly.

“Please.” He pleaded.

“No.” She said, sternly. “You can’t just disappear from my life and then come back almost two decades later and expect me to just drop everything and run back into your arms.”

For the third time, Felicity tried to move past him and this time he didn’t block her, but after she had gotten past him she heard his voice behind her.

“At least take this.” He said.

 _Don’t_ _do_ _it._ _Don’t_ _turn_ _around._ _He_ _abandoned_ _you._ _He_ _doesn’t_ _deserve_ _your_ _time._

But Felicity just couldn’t resist the temptation and she turned around to see him holding out a flash drive.

“What is that?” She asked him.

“It’s a record of everything I’ve been up to since I left.” He replied.

“And why do you think I’d want to know anything about that?”

“Because I know about everything that’s happened in your life since I left.”

Felicity looked at him with narrowed eyes and a tilted head. “What?”

“Just because I haven’t been in your life doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping an eye on you. I know you went to MIT. I know what happened during your senior year with Cooper Seldon. I know about your job at Queen Consolidated and your relationship with Oliver Queen...and how you spend your nights.” He told her.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I know you’re Overwatch.” He stated matter-of-factly.

Felicity was going to protest, but she could see in his face that there was no point. “How do you know?”

“Because I was in town, working a job, and I almost got beat. My adversary had exceptional skill. My curiosity piqued, so I investigated further...”

Felicity cut him off as the realization dawned on her. “You’re the Calculator?”

He simply nodded once in response.

“Bye.” Felicity stated, tersely. “See you never.” She said as she began to leave and this time she was determined to not look back.

But he got in her way _again_.

“Felicity, please, it’s not what you think.” He pleaded, squating down in front of her to be at her eye level. “Just take the flash drive and see for yourself.”

Felicity was determined to leave without another word, but as she stared at him, her resolve weakened. When she looked in his eyes, all she could think about were the times when they would sit in the living room and build computers together. She thought about the one time her mom got so mad because they tore apart the coffee maker and used it for parts.

He was a good dad. He was a _great_ dad, actually. He never missed her birthdays or holidays or science fairs. He was always there to read to her and kiss her goodnight before bed. She had spent so many years wanting nothing more than for him to come back and be her dad again. And now he was actually here and all he wanted was a second chance.

Felicity took the flash drive from his outstretched hand and nodded once. “Okay. I’ll check it out.” She told him and he smiled. “But if I don’t like what I see,” she continued in a warning tone, “then I don’t ever want to see you again.”

The smile slipped from his face, but he nodded in understanding. “Fair enough,” He said, “Thank you, Felicity.”

Felicity left the conference room without another word—and this time he let her go without any interference.


	4. Chapter 4

After leaving the conference room, Felicity was going to head back to Laurel’s when she received a text from Oliver telling her that Thea was at the hospital and in a coma. So, instead of going back to Laurel’s, she decided to head to the hospital instead.

She arrived at the hospital ten minutes later and, after a few tries, managed to find someone who could direct her to Thea’s room.

When she arrived in Thea’s room, she found Oliver sitting by the bed and clutching Thea’s hand.

Felicity silently went over to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “How is she?”

Oliver didn’t look up at her, but did answer her question in a quiet tone. “Not good. They said it’s bad. She doesn’t have much time left and there’s nothing they can do.”

Felicity gently squeezed Oliver’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Nyssa says she has a cure.” Oliver said suddenly.

“What?” Felicity asked. “What kind of cure?”

“It’s called the Lotus.” Oliver explained. “Apparently, Thea drinks it and she’s cured of the bloodlust.”

“And Nyssa’s just going to give it to you?”

“Not exactly. She wants me to kill Malcolm.”

“Are you going to?” Felicity couldn’t help but ask.

“I can’t murder Thea’s father.”

“Good. I mean, I know Merlyn’s evil and everything, but I just don’t want you to start killing again.” Felicity said. “Look, Nyssa’s not a bad person. I’m sure you can reason with her and find another way.” Felicity encouraged.

“You’re right. I’ll have to find another way.” Oliver sighed before looking up at her for the first time since she arrived. “Thank you.” He said with a small smile.

She returned his smile before he grabbed the hand that was still resting on his shoulder and placed a soft kiss there.

“I should go talk to Nyssa.” Oliver said as he stood up.

“I’ll stay with Thea. And I’ll text you if anything changes.” Felicity told him.

He gave her another smile and thanked her again before leaving the room.

After Oliver left the room, Felicity pulled herself out of her wheelchair and into the chair that Oliver had just been sitting in. She knew there was nothing she could actually do for Thea, but she didn’t feel right about leaving her.

As Thea laid on the hospital bed, Felicity observed her. She looked so young. Well, she _was_ young—only twenty one—but she looked especially young just lying there.

As Felicity observed Thea, she thought about what Oliver had said and she really hoped that Oliver would find another way. Felicity didn’t really care if Malcolm died or not, but she just didn’t want it to be at Oliver’s hands. He had come so far...

But she also wondered how Thea would feel about Nyssa’s request. Just a year before Thea had regretted the decision to hand Malcolm over to the League—because, even though Malcolm was a terrible person, he was still her father.

Felicity let out a sigh. _Speaking_ _of_ _fathers..._

Felicity pulled the flash drive her father had given her out of her pocket and stared at it, turning it over in her hands.

On the one hand, she knew her dad was a criminal and she should turn the flash drive into the police without another thought. But on the other hand...he did seem sincere in wanting to reconnect. And what if she never got another chance to have her dad back? Whatever was on the flash drive couldn’t be that bad, right? If he was such a bad guy then how come he had been such a great father?

Felicity couldn’t help but think about the conversation with her mother and how she had encouraged Felicity to give Oliver the benefit of the doubt. Well, didn’t her dad also deserve that? Sure, he’d left, but that was a long time ago. People can change.

Felicity sighed and then pulled out her laptop, plugging the flash drive in. She spent the next several hours perusing through all the files. From what she could gather, most of his work seemed to involve hacking into various business and government servers and exposing corruption or fraud. Sometimes people would hire him and sometimes he would do it on his own. It did remind Felicity of her college hacktivist days.

Eventually, after Felicity felt like she had gathered all the information she could, she decided that it was probably time to go home and sleep. She felt bad about leaving Thea, but knew there was really nothing she could do anyway and Thea would be fine.

* * *

 

Felicity made it back to Laurel’s place and even managed to get a few hours of sleep before she got a text from Oliver asking her to come to the Bunker.

When she arrived, she found that Thea had been moved from the hospital during the few hours that she’d been sleeping. She then found John and Oliver standing by the round table.

“How’s Thea?” Felicity asked as she made her way over to Oliver and John.

“Worse.” Oliver stated. “That’s why we had her moved here. And Laurel went to try to reason with Nyssa.” He explained. “How are you? You look...upset.”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine.” Felicity said. “I mean, in the grand scheme of things, with everything that’s going on with Thea and everything, it’s really not that important.”

“Felicity, what’s wrong?” Oliver promoted.

Felicity sighed, realizing she might as well tell him. “My dad’s in town.” Felicity said, looking at Oliver.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” John said.

It was then that Felicity realized that John wasn’t privy to her history with her father. But now was not the time to tell that story. “It’s a long story...but you know the cyber-terrorist that tried to destroy the city with the web nuke?” John and Oliver both nodded their heads. “That was my dad.” Felicity told them.

“Your dad is the Calculator?” John asked, trying to clarify.

“Ugh such a stupid name, but yes.” Felicity answered. “Anyway, he says that he’s here for a second chance. He wants to prove to me that he’s not a bad guy and he wants us to reconcile. I just wish there was some kind of test I could do to prove that he’s sincere.”

Oliver perked up at her words. “Maybe there is.”

“What do you mean?” Felicity asked.

“A test is a good idea for both of us. You can test your father and we can test the cure. Show Malcolm that Nyssa’s sincere and maybe that’ll convince him to give up the ring.”

“And then no one would have to die.” Felicity concluded. “You should go talk to Nyssa.”

“Are you sure? I can stay with you...if you need me.” Oliver offered.

“No, I’m fine. I already have an idea of what to do. Getting this cure for Thea is more important.”

Oliver nodded before he and John departed. Felicity sent a quick text to her father asking him to meet her at Palmer Tech before she left the Bunker too.

Fifteen minutes later, Felicity was meeting her father in the lobby of Palmer Tech.

“I hope this means you looked at the flash drive I gave you and everything checked out.” Her dad said when she arrived.

“Yes. In fact, a lot of your work reminded me of my college days. I was kind of a...hacktivist back then.” Felicity explained.

“I know. I wanted to show you that we’re not that different.”

He gave her a smile which she returned. “Well, if you’re serious about wanting to be in my life again, then I thought I would show you around Palmer Tech.”

“I’d like that. Lead the way.” He said as he motioned for her to start moving.

Felicity nodded and led him towards the elevators. “You said that you’ve kept tabs on me so you probably know about how I started working here.

“Yes. You started working here when this was still Queen Consolidated. You originally got a job in the IT Department back in 2009 after finishing college. You worked at an entry level position for three years before being promoted to a supervisor. You worked in that capacity for about a year before inexplicably being promoted to being the assistant to the CEO. I must admit, that career change stumped me for the longest time. Until I found out about you being Overwatch and then it all made sense.”

“What do you mean?” Felicity asked.

“Well, Oliver Queen must have promoted you to make it easier when discussing your nightly activities.”

“I don’t...I...I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Felicity rambled but was cut off.

“I know that Oliver is the Green Arrow and that he was also the Arrow.”

“Roy Harper was the Arrow.”

“Roy Harper was saved by the Hood once. On live television. So either Mister Harper has the ability to clone himself, or he told everyone he was the Arrow to take the fall for the real culprit. As for how I know the real culprit is Oliver, well, Oliver miraculously comes back from the dead at the same time a mysterious vigilante shows up in the city. Not to mention that you are not the type of girl that would ever give someone like Oliver Queen the time of day...unless he had grown out of his frat boy phase.”

“So you think Oliver is the Green Arrow just because I’m engaged to him?” Felicity questioned.

“Oliver strikes me as the jealous type. Certainly not the kind of guy that would be okay with his fiancé working with a mysterious masked vigilante. So either he’s incredibly stupid and obtuse which can’t be the case because you’re far too smart to fall for a guy like that or _he_ is the mysterious masked vigilante.”

“I love how your saying all this stuff about what kind of person I am as if you haven’t been absent from my life for the past eighteen years.” Felicity scoffed.

Noah ignored her comment and continued on. “After, Oliver lost the company to Isabel Rochev, you were fired. Miss Rochev seemed to really hate you, too, because it seems like she went out of her way to prove that you and Oliver had, in fact, been intimate so that the company wouldn’t have to pay you severance.”

It was true. Isabel dragged Felicity through the mud after she took over QC. She set up a whole ethics hearing with Human Resources and provided “evidence” that the rumors were true—all just so that Felicity wasn’t entitled to any severance pay after her termination.

“After that you worked at Tech Village for a while before Dr. Ray Palmer hired you as Vice President when he took over Queen Consolidated. Finally a job you were actually worthy of. And then when Dr. Palmer died, he made you the CEO. But you know something that I’ve always wondered...”

“What?”

“After college you were offered jobs with the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, ARGUS, and even Interpol. And you turned them all down to be a lowly IT girl. Why is that?”

“It’s personal.” Felicity replied curtly.

The truth was that it was because of Cooper. After he had gotten arrested, Felicity didn’t want anything to do with hacking anymore. So when it came time to find a job, she looked for the most boring job she could possibly get. Because boring was safe.

But then, of course, she met Oliver and her plan to shut herself off from any kind of human contact for the rest of her life and spend the rest of her days trying to be as invisible as possible completely went out the window. All because of thatfrakkin’ smile.

Finally, the elevator doors opened and they arrived at their destination: the Research and Development lab. After Team Arrow had blown up Queen Consolidated’s Applied Sciences division, Ray decided to build a new R&D lab in-house to avoid something like that happening again.

“So this is our R&D lab, or at least, part of it...” Felicity explained as she led him through. “John Lopez is the head of the Research and Development department which also encompasses a few other sub-departments like Design Innovation and others.” She explained.

“What is this?” Noah asked as he picked up one of Curtis’ autonomous communication devices.

“Ah yes. That is an autonomous communication device developed by Curtis Holt who works in DI. He’s quite the genius.” Felicity explained.

“Don’t sell yourself short; you’re the Steve Jobs in this equation.”

He set the piece of tech back down before speaking again. “Thank you for giving me a second chance.”

“Well, you’re my dad. Despite everything...I don’t remember much from before you left, but all of those memories I have of us are good memories. So I thought you deserved the benefit of the doubt. But...baby steps. I’m still not ready to let you back in completely.”

“Baby steps.” He agreed.

After that, Felicity showed him out and made sure he was gone before she went back up to the lab to look around.

Was it too much to hope that she didn’t find anything out of the ordinary?

But as Felicity looked around, her hopes were dashed when she found a little “gift” her father left behind.

On her way back to Laurel’s apartment, Felicity debated with herself about what to tell her mother. Or even if she should tell her mother. She also had to figure out what to do with her father. One thing she knew for certain was that she didn’t want him in her life.

Why couldn’t he just be the father she always wanted? Was it really so hard for him to just be a good person and want to be in her life with no ulterior motive? Did he really care that little about her that he could try to steal from her company and feel nothing?

Felicity was still processing her thoughts when Oliver called telling her to meet him at his campaign office; that he had figured out a solution to the problem with Nyssa and the cure and Malcolm and that he needed witnesses.

It turned out that Oliver’s “solution” was a trial by combat between Nyssa and Malcolm.

Felicity, along with Oliver, John, Laurel, Nyssa, and Malcolm gathered on the roof to witness the fight.

This was definitely one of Oliver’s crazier ideas. And that was saying something. It was true that Felicity didn’t really care if Malcolm died, but she didn’t think that Oliver would willingly sic Nyssa on him.

Just as Nyssa and Malcolm were about to begin their fight, Oliver stopped them and stepped in to fight on Nyssa’s behalf. When that happened, Felicity smiled slightly to herself. She knew Oliver well and she guessed what was going to happen next.

And she was right. Just as she hoped, Oliver found another way and no one died.

Thea got the cure and Nyssa got to be Ra’s al Ghul. Everyone won. Except Malcolm, but Felicity really didn’t care about that.

* * *

 

The next morning—after a not-so-great night’s sleep—Felicity had finally come to a decision about what to do about her father. She took the flash drive her dad had given her along with the IR Burst Receiver he’d left in the R&D lab and headed to the SCPD headquarters.

When Felicity arrived she headed straight for Quentin’s office and, to her surprise, her mom was there.

“Hey, baby girl. What are you doing here?” Felicity’s mom asked when she entered Quentin’s office.

“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing.” Felicity replied.

“Oh well, I was just bringing Quentin his coffee.”

“Right.” Felicity said.

“Is there something I can help you with, Felicity?” Quentin asked.

“Yes, actually.” Felicity nodded. “I need you to arrest my father.”

“Wait, what?!” Felicity’s mom practically shouted.

“I don’t understand.” Quentin said.

“I have this.” Felicity told him, holding out the flash drive. “It’s an account of some of the crimes he’s committed over the years. Not all of them, unfortunately, but there should be enough. There’s also this...” She said as she handed him the IR burst receiver, “it’s a device that can suck all the data from a room. Don’t worry, I turned it off, but he left that in the R&D lab at Palmer Tech to try to steal information from the company.”

“Felicity, what the hell is going on?” Donna interrupted.

“Dad’s in town. He was at my Palmer Tech presentation. He gave me that flash drive because he said he wanted a second chance and he wanted to prove that he was a good man.” Felicity explained.

“Wha—wait...so he’s in town right now...and you saw him? Why didn’t you tell me this?” Donna yelled.

“I didn’t know how!” Felicity yelled back. Tears had begun forming in her eyes and she couldn’t hold them back any longer. “I just wanted some time to deal with the situation on my own.”

There was a brief pause before Donna took a deep breath and spoke again. “You said that he wanted a second chance?”

“Yeah. He said that he wanted to be back in my life.” Felicity replied.

“And you believed him?”

“I wanted to.”

“Felicity, he’s a criminal.” Donna stated.

“That’s why I’m here, Mom.”

“You said that he left this device at Palmer Tech.” Quentin spoke up, holding up the burst receiver.

“Yes.” Felicity replied.

“How did you know it was there?” Quentin asked.

“I found it after I gave him a tour of the lab. I wasn’t sure if he was really genuine or not so I wanted to test him. I gave him access to the lab and he left that device without me knowing. I gave him a test and he failed with flying colors. He’s a criminal and he deserves to be in prison.” A few more tears slid down Felicity’s cheeks as she said the last words.

“Do you know where he is?” Quentin asked.

“No. But I can contact him and tell him to meet me in my office at Palmer Tech.”

Quentin looked over at Donna for a few moments before looking back at Felicity. “Alright, I’ll grab some officers and meet you there.”

Felicity left Quentin’s office then and, when she was almost out of the building, she heard her mom calling after her.

“Felicity!”

Felicity turned around to face her mom.

“What happened with your dad?”

“Like I said. He came to my presentation and then afterwards told me that he wanted a second chance. And then I remembered what you said about how Oliver deserves a second chance, so then why shouldn’t he? I know he’s a criminal and he left us, but I do have good memories of him so I just thought he deserved the benefit of the doubt...but he’s not a good person.”

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I know how much it hurt you when he left. But the truth is that people like him don’t change. I learned that the hard way. I’m sorry you had to too.”

Felicity nodded and wiped away her tears. “Well, I should be getting to work.”

* * *

 

After Felicity got to work, she texted Noah to meet her in her office.

Quentin and his officers waited out of sight. She told them to give her a few minutes before they came in because there was just a few things she still wanted to say to him.

Mostly about how she blamed herself when he left. She thought that he left because she wasn’t good enough. Him leaving was pretty much the whole reason why it was hard for her to trust anyone.

But after everything, Felicity finally realized that it wasn’t her fault. He left because not going to prison was more important to him than his wife and daughter.

After Quentin took Noah away, Felicity headed off to a meeting with John Lopez. Felicity buried herself in her work for the rest of the day. After lunch, she got a phone call from Quentin. He said the DA was pressing charges and Noah would go to Iron Heights while he awaited trial.

* * *

 

After Thea was cured, Laurel took her back to their place and then Nyssa came down to the Bunker telling them there was one more thing they needed to bear witness to.

About an hour later, Oliver, Felicity, and John met Nyssa at a warehouse which was the League’s base of operations in Star City.

“What are you doing, Nyssa?” Oliver asked.

“Two things actually.” Nyssa informed them. “The second thing can only be done once Al Sa-her arrives, but the first can be done now.”

“And what is that?” Oliver asked.

“I should have done this a long time ago but..better late than never, as they say.” Nyssa said before pulling out something that Felicity didn’t recognize. “This is a horchis dagger. In the League of Assassins, it symbolizes the cutting of marital bonds. I hearby annul our marriage.” Nyssa declared before handing Oliver the dagger.

Felicity saw a small half-smile form on Oliver’s face as he took the dagger from her. “I’m sorry that your father ever forced us to marry in the first place.”

“Well, today is a day to correct my father’s mistakes.” Before Nyssa could continue, Malcolm arrived. He definitely looked worse for the wear. “Thank you for joining us, Al Sa-her.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice. You’re Ra’s now.”

“Yes, I am.” Nyssa replied. “But the League will no longer operate as it once did.” Nyssa then turned to address the entire League that Felicity didn’t even notice had gathered in the warehouse. “As Ra’s al Ghul, I hearby release all of you from the League. Those who wish to stay will be re-initiated, but those who wish to go may do so now without fear of retaliation. No one will be held prisoner by my father any longer. If you choose to stay, it will not be as a slave to the wishes of Ra’s al Ghul.” Nyssa said something in Arabic then and then the crowd of League members dispersed. “The original purpose of the League was not an evil one, but my father twisted it for his own means. I intend to return the League to its original purpose.”

After that, Nyssa was gone.

“Well, I don’t know exactly what that means, but as long as the League won’t be a problem for us anymore, I don’t really care.” Felicity stated after Nyssa was gone.

“I will never forget what you did.” Malcolm stayed before he was gone too.

“What the hell does that mean?” Felicity asked.

But Oliver didn’t answer at first and, instead, John spoke. “Do you think the League will be a problem for us anymore?”

“No.” Oliver replied.

“Well I’m gonna head out then. I’ll see you guys later.” John said before leaving the warehouse.

After John was gone, Oliver turned to Felicity. “Do you want to go back to the loft with me? Maybe we can talk?”

* * *

 

 

Ten minutes later, Oliver and Felicity arrived back at the loft.

“Make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything?” Oliver asked when they entered the front door.

“No thanks, I’m fine.” Felicity said as she pulled herself onto the couch.

“How’d things go with your dad?” Oliver asked as he came to sit down next to her.

“Not great, actually. It turns out he’s not the man I thought he was...wanted him to be.”

“What happened?”

“Well, I gave him a test. I took him to Palmer Tech’s R&D lab and showed him around. And he left a device capable of sucking data out of a room.”

“He tried to steal from you?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah. So this morning I had Quentin arrest him. He’s at Iron Heights now.”

Felicity felt Oliver’s hands grab hers and lightly squeeze them. “I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t even know why I’m upset.” Felicity said as tears began to flow down her cheeks. “He’s a criminal.”

“But he’s also your dad. You told me that, after your dad left, you would pray every day that he would come back. You wanted him to be the kind of father that you deserve.”

There was a brief pause before Felicity spoke. “Is there something else wrong?” Felicity asked. “You seem off.”

Oliver didn’t answer at first, but then he sighed and looked at her. “Um...Malcolm knows about William.”

“What? How? I thought you weren’t supposed to tell anyone.”

“I didn’t.” Oliver replied. “Malcolm just said that he had his resources as Ra’s.”

“Wait so do you think he’s gonna try to do something to William or...?”

“I don’t know. I mean, Nyssa would’ve killed him during their duel and by taking her place I saved his life. Now he owes me a debt.”

“Do you think you should tell Samantha just in case?” Felicity asked.

“If I tell Samantha that Malcolm knows, she might not let me see William anymore. Especially considering that Malcolm is technically a domestic terrorist in the eyes of the general public. And besides, I think Malcolm probably knows better than to cross me.”

Felicity sighed. “Alright, well, he’s your son. If you think that’s best...then I trust you.”

“You do?” Oliver asked with hope in his eyes.

“Baby steps.” Felicity said.


	5. Chapter 5

After everything got settled with the League, things in the city went back to normal for a few days. It allowed Oliver to focus on his campaign, which was a good thing because there was a debate coming up.

After the team returned to the Bunker after their pursuit of Ruvé Darhk. John, Laurel, and Felicity departed, but Thea stuck around waving a folder in Oliver’s face.

“Hey can I talk to you for a second?” Thea asked.

“Sure. What’s up?” Oliver asked.

“So Alex got a phone call from one of the lawyers doing research on the opposition and it looks like they may have found something.” Thea explained.

“On Ruvé?” Oliver asked.

“On _you_ actually. In 2013, Homeland Security did a tax audit after the Undertaking and it looks like Mom wrote a million dollar check to some woman named Samantha Clayton. Alex flagged it as something potentially weird.”

“And by ‘weird’...”

“Well, the check was never cashed.” Thea stated. “So why would Mom write a check to a woman young enough to be her daughter and why would that woman never cash it?”

“I don’t know.” Oliver responded.

“Should I look into this Samantha person?”

“I don’t see the point.” Oliver said. “Whatever was going on with this woman, clearly she wanted nothing to do with Mom. And either way, I don’t see how this would blow back on me.”

“Okay.” Thea shrugged before grabbing her things and promptly leaving.

Oliver felt bad about lying to his sister. It was the same guilt he felt when lying to Felicity. But he made Samantha a promise.

Still, Oliver began to wonder what it would be like if he didn’t have to lie anymore. He knew it was dangerous for the world to know that he had a son, but Oliver could protect him.

Samantha allowing him to tell Felicity was a good first step to her trusting other people with the knowledge. Oliver wondered what it would take to convince Samantha to let him go public. Especially now that his political team knows about the check. If there’s anything he learned from his mother’s affinity for lying, it’s that the truth always came out eventually.

When Oliver got back to the loft, he decided to take a chance and give Samantha a call.

“Hello?” Samantha’s voice came through the receiver.

“Hey Samantha, it’s Oliver. I wanted to ask you something.” Oliver replied.

“...okay...what’s up?”

“So as you know, I’m running for Mayor...”

“Yeah.” Samantha acknowledged.

“Well, my sister is managing my campaign and my team have been doing some research into different things to make sure there’s nothing to hamper my campaign...”

“I’m confused, Oliver.” Samantha interjected.

“They found the check my mom wrote to you. It’s only a matter of time before everyone finds out the truth. I wanted to ask you if I could get ahead of this and tell everyone myself.”

“Oliver...what the hell... _no_!” Samantha stammered.

“Samantha this is happening whether you want it to or not. They know about the check. Which means that, soon, they’ll know about William too. Now, I don’t know about you but I’d rather release the story myself, so that we can control things and better shield William from the backlash.”

“Oliver this is way too much. I just got comfortable with you telling your fiancé and now you want to tell _everyone_.”

“I know, Samantha. I know. It’s a lot to take in and, believe me when I tell you I didn’t want this to happen this way. But we’re kinda backed into a corner here. The whole reason I’m telling you this is because I thought you deserved to know. But this doesn’t have to be a bad thing, Samantha. Once everyone knows, I won’t have to keep lying and we could even work out a real custody arrangement so William could come stay in Star City with me sometimes.” Oliver pleaded hoping that it would be enough to convince her.

There was a long pause and Oliver heard nothing but silence from her end for a while. He hoped that she hadn’t gotten angry and hung up.

“I...I don’t know, Oliver. I have to think about this.” Samantha finally spoke.

“I understand. But don’t take too long. I’ll try to stall as long as I can.”

“Goodbye, Oliver.” Samantha said before the call promptly cut out.

Oliver didn’t get much time, however, to process Samantha’s phone call before he got a text from Felicity telling him to come to the Bunker.

* * *

 

Oliver arrived at the Bunker ten minutes later to find Felicity at her station and Quentin watching her work.

“I found out where the so-called Demolition Team is going to hit next. Do you need my help with this? Because I just got a 911 text from my mom.” Felicity explained.

“Yeah, no, I’m sure we’ll be able to handle it on our own. Go be with your mom.”

Felicity nodded before leaving the room, leaving Oliver and Quentin alone. And Oliver couldn’t help but notice the pained look Quentin got on his face when Felicity mentioned her mom.

“Everything alright? You got this look on your face when Felicity mentioned her mom.” Oliver asked.

“Uh...yeah. Donna called it quits.” Quentin confessed.

“What happened? I thought things were going well between you two.”

“Yeah, well, that was until HIVE started trying to get me killed for betraying them. I couldn’t tell her the truth because, if she knew, she’d be in danger.” Quentin explained.

“You want some advice?” Oliver asked.

“Oliver Queen giving me relationship advice? Looks like the temperature in Hell must’ve dropped a few degrees.”

Oliver couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips at Quentin’s teasing. “Yeah, it’s a crazy world. But seriously, you may think that you’re protecting her by lying, but you’re not. You’re only hurting her. If you want things to work between you two, you have to be honest with her. Besides, the Smoak ladies are a lot tougher than they seem. Donna can take care of herself. Believe me, I once saw her fight off a mugger with nothing but her stilettos.”

“Wait, when did that happen?” Quentin asked in surprise.

“It was last summer when Felicity and I had left town. We went to visit Donna in Vegas for a couple days. Anyway, I should go take care of the Demolition Team. Just think about what I said.” Oliver clapped Quentin on the back before going to put on his gear.

* * *

 

Oliver and the team returned to the Bunker after not managing to take down the Demolition Team, but at least they got a lead on a possible next target so it wasn’t a complete bust.

Oliver was the last to leave after changing back into his civilian clothes, but on his way out of the Bunker, he noticed Felicity sitting at the round table staring off into space.

“Hey.” Oliver greeted softly, walking over to her. “Is there something wrong with your mom?”

“What? Oh no...not anymore, hopefully...I think. Quentin told me that he was gonna talk to her so hopefully that means apologizing for whatever he did. But that’s not what’s wrong.” Felicity explained.

“What happened? Something at work or...?” Oliver asked as he sat down in the chair next to her.

“Something like that.” She said as she wiped away a few small tears Oliver hadn’t noticed before. “Do you remember Curtis Holt? He works in Design Innovations at Palmer Tech.”

“He’s the really tall guy that thought I was the Green Arrow...yeah I remember.”

“Well, I came to visit him at work today and he gave me a present. Actually, I kinda forced him to give it to me. He was originally going to give it to me as an engagement present but...” Felicity babbled before pulling a small box from her pocket and opening it to show Oliver.

“What is it?” Oliver asked.

“It’s an implantable bio-stimulant. Basically, if implanted in my spine, it could, theoretically, help me walk again.” Felicity explained.

“Are you serious?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s just a prototype, but yeah.”

“So then what’s the problem?” Oliver had to ask. “I mean, you do want to be able to walk again?”

“Yes, of course. But...” Felicity trailed off, clearly holding back.

Oliver wrapped his hand around hers trying to soothe her. “Tell me.”

Felicity sighed. “What if it doesn’t work? What if I go through the whole process of having the surgery and doing physical therapy and it’s all for nothing? When I first found out about the paralysis, I thought my life was over. I thought, how can I possibly live if I can’t even walk. I’d never be able to drive or go up and down stairs. All these little things that I’ve always taken for granted. And I fantasized about getting my legs back. I dream about it every night...about how it might be possible. But ultimately, those were just dreams and I knew they weren’t real. And now those dreams are coming true, but all I can think is...what if it’s just false hope? I can’t go through that again.” Felicity spoke as tears began to stream down her face.

“Felicity...I know this injury has been unbelievably hard for you and I can only imagine having to cope with a trauma like this. And you’re right, this bio-stimulant might not work. But you won’t know unless you try. And I know you well enough to know that, if you don’t try, you’ll spend the rest of your life in that chair wondering what could’ve been. I know it’s scary. But that’s life. And, if it does work, you’ll be able to walk again. And not only that but you’ll have basically cured paralysis. That’s probably one of the biggest game-changers of all time.” Oliver gently squeezes her hands and she even let out a small, breathy chuckle at his last words.

“Maybe you’re right.” Felicity said softly. “When did you get to be so optimistic?” She asked as she turned to look at him with a small smile.

“I took my lead from you.” He said. And it was true. She was always the one that encouraged him to look at the bright side and to see the best in things. The least he could do was return the favor.

“Well, I’m gonna go call Curtis.” Felicity said before pulling away from the table. Before she left, she stopped next to Oliver and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.” She said softly before departing.

Oliver turned to watch her leave and thought about how amazing and beautiful she was and how he hoped beyond hope that she would find her way to forgiving him because he really wanted to be able to put that non-refundable deposit down on the wedding venue they had picked out but just hadn’t gotten around to booking yet.

As Oliver was getting up to leave, his phone dinged with a text from Thea.

 **Thea:** Hey make sure you get a good night’s sleep tonight. Big debate tomorrow!

 **Oliver:** Got it. Night Speedy

* * *

 

The next morning, Oliver woke up bright and early to several texts from Thea about meeting at the office for last minute debate prep.

On his way in, Oliver gave Samantha another call hoping that she had changed her mind.

“Hey, it’s Oliver.” Oliver said into his phone after Samantha picked up.

“Hi Oliver.”

“I was wondering if you had thought about our conversation last night.”

“I have...but I’m still not sure.” Samantha replied.

“What aren’t you sure about?” Oliver asked. “I know you’re probably scared or worried, but how is this any worse than when I found out or when we told William the truth? What’s the worst that could happen?”

Of course, Oliver knew exactly what could happen if he went public about his son: it would put a target on William’s back and all of Oliver’s enemies could try to hurt him through William. But Oliver couldn’t tell Samantha that because it would just make things worse. Yes, it was a risk to let everyone know about William...especially after what happened to Felicity. But Oliver trusted that he and the team could keep William safe.

“Maybe you’re right.” Samantha’s voice broke Oliver out of his thoughts. “I guess it was naive of me to think that William would stay a secret forever. And he has started to ask me lately why he can’t ever come visit you in Star City. Maybe it’s time.”

Oliver couldn’t help his sigh of relief. “Samantha, thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you so much.”

“So when are you going to announce it then?” Samantha asked.

“Well, I have a debate tonight so I’m not sure. I’ll have to talk to my sister and my political advisor. But it’ll probably be soon. I’ll let you know ahead of time, though.” Oliver told her.

“Thanks, I appreciate that.”

“I appreciate your trust.” Oliver responded. “Bye, Samantha. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye, Oliver.”

The two hung up and then Oliver decided that he wanted to tell Felicity the good news so, instead of continuing towards his campaign office, he took a detour to Palmer Tech.

* * *

 

Oliver hadn’t realized until he was pulling into the visitor’s parking lot, how long it had been since he’d visited Felicity at work. He used to come by almost every day to bring her lunch—and sometimes dinner too if she was working late (which she almost always was). The long absence just reminded him of the current state of their relationship. He knew he just needed to be patient—and working on his campaign did help distract him—but he was just anxious for things to get back to normal. His only consolation was that she was still wearing her engagement ring. As long as she was still wearing her ring, things weren’t completely hopeless.

Once Oliver got inside the building, he was able to get past security pretty easily since Felicity had put him on the permanent visitor’s list so he wouldn’t have to sign in at security and get a visitor’s badge every time he stopped by.

As he walked through the lobby and to the elevators to head up to the executive floor he remembered a conversation he and Felicity had had once where she asked him if it was weird that the Palmer Tech building was just the Queen Consolidated building with a new name. Oliver suspected that Felicity was really asking if it was weird that she was running the company that replaced his family’s company. Oliver would admit that yeah, at first it was a little weird, but not because he was angry at Ray or anything for taking over QC, but just because the building still looked the same as it always had, but there were all these little things that were different. It almost felt like, when you move to a new house but you keep all your old furniture.

When Oliver finally reached the executive floor and stepped into Felicity’s office—which, of course, had been Oliver’s office and Walter’s before him and his father’s before that—he saw Felicity’s assistant, Gerry typing away at his computer and he could see Felicity through the glass wall sitting at her desk with that crinkle in her forehead she always got when she was concentrating really hard.

“Mr. Queen!” Gerry greeted him cheerfully. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too, Gerry. Is Felicity busy?”

“Well, there’s nothing on her schedule for the next hour, but she’s been working on a new project so...proceed with caution.” Gerry warned which caused Oliver to chuckle.

Oliver could admit that, when he first found out that Felicity’s assistant was a man, he was non too pleased. But over time, Oliver came to actually like Gerry. Gerry understood how Felicity could get when she got really invested in a project; he even learned that Oliver seemed to be the only person that could get Felicity to stop working and take a break—Oliver couldn’t count how many late-night phone calls he’d gotten from Gerry pleading to get his boss to stop working so he could go home.

(It also didn’t hurt that Gerry was gay so Oliver didn’t have to worry about any boss/employee fantasies getting played out.)

Oliver knocked on the door before entering Felicity’s office.

“Hey.” He greeted softly, but she didn’t look up from her computer. “Felicity.” He stated firmly with a light smack on her desk. That seemed to get her attention.

“Frak!” She looked up with a jump. “Oliver? When did you get here?”

“Just now.” Oliver responded.

“I didn’t hear you come in.” Felicity said.

“I noticed.” Oliver replied with a smirk.

“So what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at your campaign office?”

“Yeah, but I wanted to tell you something.” Oliver replied.

“Okay.” Felicity said, a little skeptically.

“I’m going to tell the public about William.” Oliver told her, not being able to hold back the smile that spread across his face.

“Wait...what? Back up. I’m confused.”

Oliver sat down in the chair across from her desk before explaining, “Last night, Thea came to me and told me that, during my team’s research, they found the check my mom wrote to Samantha to get her to go back to Central City and not tell me about William. I told Thea I didn’t know anything about it but I knew it was only a matter of time before the truth came out. So I called Samantha and I told her I wanted to tell the public, that way I would control the story and could better shield him from the inevitable media blitz. Samantha was apprehensive at first but then she finally agreed.” Oliver explained. “Although, now I just have to figure out when to hold the press conference. Should it be before or after the debate...?”

“Wait, Oliver. Hold on.” Felicity interjected. “I can tell that you’re excited about this and I’m happy for you but...”

“But what?”

“Don’t you think that telling the public is a little dangerous? I mean, you outed Damien Darhk to the press and a few days later we were attacked and I was paralyzed. Now, HIVE is trying to kill Quentin for betraying them. If everyone knows about William, who knows what Darhk could do to him?”

“I know.” Oliver conceded. “I know it’s a risk. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take because I know that the team can protect him.” Felicity didn’t say anything but she did have The Look on her face. “Look, Felicity, I’m just _so tired_ of lying. I lied to my family and friends about my identity when I first got back and it drove them all away. Tommy died thinking I was a monster. I lied to Thea about Malcolm and it drove her right into his arms. I lied to you and...well, you know what happened. We came back here because you convinced me that I could be Oliver Queen and the Green Arrow and I can’t do that if I’m still keeping secrets from the people I care about. I mean, I’m still lying to Thea and John and everyone else about William so...” Oliver trailed off.

“Okay.” Felicity said. “I get it. Believe me, no one is happier than I am that you’ve finally realized the cost of keeping secrets. So if you want to make a public announcement about William, then I’ll support you.”

A wide grin spread across Oliver’s face at Felicity’s words. “Thank you, Felicity.”

Felicity returned his smile and nodded.

“So what about you?” Oliver asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Did you talk to Curtis? Are you going to do the surgery?”

“Yes, I talked to Curtis and yes, I’m doing the surgery.”

“That’s amazing, honey! I’m so happy for you. So when is it happening?”

“Um...well, I wondered how Curtis would be able to find a surgeon that would be willing to perform a risky and highly experimental procedure off the books—especially considering said surgeon could lose their medical license if anyone found out—but apparently Curtis’ brother-in-law is a neurosurgeon and he and Paul were able to convince him to do it. Doctor Faust, Paul’s brother, lives in Midway City so I’m flying out tomorrow morning. They wanted me to fly out tonight, but I didn’t want to miss the debate.”

“Wow. Tomorrow morning...that’s so soon!”

“I know. I’m really nervous, actually.” Felicity confessed. “I was actually gonna ask if you would come with me, but if you’re telling the press about William then you’ll probably be too busy dealing with that...”

“Then I’ll just wait until after.” Oliver stated.

“What?”

“I’ll wait until after you have the procedure to make the announcement about William. That way I can focus on helping with your recovery.”

“I’ll have to stay in the hospital for at least twenty four hours after the procedure. And then, once I get back home, they’ll still want me to rest for at least a week before I start physical therapy. Can you really wait that long to make your announcement?”

“Well, if that’s what I have to do, then that’s what I’ll do.” Oliver stated.

“Are you sure?”

Oliver reached across the desk between them to grasp Felicity’s hands. “Felicity, I love you. You’re about to undergo an experimental procedure that could not only potentially change your life, but also the course of history. I want to to be with you every step of the way. Nothing is more important than this.”

She gave him a smile and Oliver could even see a few tears welled up in her eyes. “Thank you, Oliver. Now, you should get going before Thea gets pissed about you being late.”

Oliver chuckled and then gave her hands a light squeeze before standing up.

“I’m supposed to be at the air strip at eight tomorrow morning.” Felicity informed him.

“Okay. I’ll pick you up at Laurel’s place at 7:30 then.”

“Okay.” Felicity nodded in acknowledgement before Oliver left her office.

Oliver left Palmer Tech with a smile on his face. He was finally going to get to tell everyone the truth about William. Felicity was on the road to walking again. Everything was finally starting to look up.

Oliver was not going to listen to that little voice in the back of his head telling him that things were going _too_ well and something bad was probably lurking around the corner.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to preface this by saying that pretty much all of my knowledge of medical science comes from the TV show Scrubs. I did some research about paralysis, but most of the medical stuff in this chapter is pretty much just made up. So if you work in the medical field, please forgive me for any inaccuracies (and feel free to correct me in the comments if you want. I’m always eager to learn new things).

Oliver arrived at Laurel’s apartment at exactly 7:30 which surprised Felicity for obvious reasons.

“You’re here!” Felicity greeted in surprise as she opened the door for him. 

“Yeah, I told you I’d pick you up at 7:30 and it’s...” Oliver paused to check the time on his phone, “...7:30.” He stated.

“Yeah, I know, that’s why I’m surprised. You’re never on time.” 

“Well, this is important.” Oliver stated with a smile. “So...are you ready to go?”

“...yeah...” Felicity said hesitantly because no, she wasn’t at all ready for this. She didn’t sleep at all last night because all she could think about was all the ways this could go wrong. 

Apparently, Oliver sensed her distress because, the next thing she knew, he was kneeling down in front ofher and clasping her hands. “Hey,” he said softly, “everything’s gonna be okay. And even if it’s not, I’ll be by your side every step of the way. I’m not going anywhere.” He said reassuringly. Felicity looked into his eyes while he spoke and she knew he was telling the truth; it was the same look he had when he was telling her about William and the same look he had the day before when he said he was tired of lying. 

“Thank you. For always being on my side.” Felicity stated.

“No place I’d rather be.” Oliver responded. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before taking her bag from her lap and then holding the front door open for her so she could go through.

* * *

 

She and Oliver arrived at the air strip a little after 7:50 where Curtis and Paul were already waiting by Ray’s private jet which he had given to Felicity when he left to go time travel (Felicity still couldn’t believe that, not only was time travel real, but two of her friends were actually doing it),

“Good morning.” Felicity and Oliver greeted the other two men. 

“Morning, Miss Smoak.” Curtis greeted.

“Curtis, what have I told you? Outside of work you can just call me Felicity.” Felicity lightly scolded. 

“Right...sorry...Mi—Felicity.” Curtis stammered. 

“So we should arrive in Midway City around two o’clock eastern time.” Paul announced. “And then we’ll go straight to the hospital where Brandon, my brother, will perform the surgery at four. Since this is off the books, officially you’ll be in the hospital for appendicitis.” 

“And everyone will believe that a neurosurgeon is performing an appendectomy?” Oliver asked.

“Officially, he won’t be performing the surgery. He convinced one of his friends whose also a surgeon to put his name on the record as the attending surgeon. But don’t worry, Dr. Yang is completely trustworthy. He and my brother have known each other since college. He won’t tell anyone the truth.” Paul explained.

Oliver and Felicity nodded in acknowledgement before the four of them all got on the plane. 

Once on the plane, Felicity tried to get some sleep, but failed miserably. She had wanted to have a glass of wine, but Paul told her it would probably be for the best if she didn’t have any alcohol beforehand. So instead, she just sat restlessly in her chair, with Oliver sitting next to her and holding her hand the whole time. He did try to distract her by playing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on his computer, but that only helped a little to take her mind off of what was about to happen. 

Finally, the plane touched down at a private air strip just outside of Midway, but Felicity couldn’t decide if she was relieved to finally be there or wishing they were still in the air. But either way, they were here and there was no going back now. 

* * *

 

Just as Paul had said before they left, they went straight to the hospital from the air strip which took them about forty-five minutes.

When they arrived at the hospital, Curtis and Paul went to meet with Paul’s brother while Oliver and Felicity checked in at the front desk. Felicity had to feign the symptoms of appendicitis as the nurse did her preliminary check. 

“Alright, so it looks like your surgery is at four and Dr. Yang is the attending. He should be in here shortly to talk to you.” The nurse told Felicity after she finished getting Felicity’s vitals.

“Thank you.” Felicity told the nurse before she left the room. 

“How are you feeling?” Oliver asked as he grabbed her hand and rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand comfortingly.

“Nervous. I keep trying to reassure myself that everything’s gonna be fine and work out, but the doubt keeps creeping up on me. At this point, I just want to get this all over with.” Felicity confessed.

“Well, it shouldn’t be too long now. Doctor Faust will be here soon and then they’ll be prepping you for surgery before you know it.” Oliver said. “And I’ll be right here waiting when you get back.” Oliver gave her hand a gentle squeeze as he spoke and Felicity gave him a smile in return.

She truly appreciated all his support and didn’t know how she would’ve gotten through all this without him. Even though they were still technically “on a break” he wasn’t letting that stop him from being there for her. A tiny part of her was a little annoyed that she had wanted to take a break, but he still acted like an attentive fiancé anyway, but mostly, she was just grateful.

Less than ten minutes after the nurse left, four men entered the room. Two of them were Curtis and Paul, one of them was a man that looked very similar to Paul, and the fourth was a tall Asian man.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Brandon Faust and this is my friend Doctor William Yang.” The man that looked like Paul introduced himself. “You must be Felicity Smoak.” He held out his hand for her to shake as he spoke.

Felicity shook his hand as she spoke, “Yes. It’s nice to meet you Doctor Faust.” 

Dr. Faust then turned to acknowledge Oliver. “And you are?” He asked politely. 

“Oliver Queen. I’m her fiancé.” Oliver said as he and Dr. Faust shook hands.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. It’ll be very important for Felicity to have a support system during her recovery.” Dr. Faust said. “Now, I just want to say how excited I am to be performing this procedure. This is the kind of stuff that made me want to be a neurosurgeon. And it looks like Curtis might be good enough for my little brother after all.” Dr. Faust joked which caused everyone in the room to laugh. “But in all seriousness, I just want to assure you that you’re in good hands, if I do say so myself. Now, I’m not gonna lie, this surgery isn’t a simple one and since nothing like this has ever been done before I can’t really give you any specifics as to how it’s going to work, but I can tell you that, if Curtis’ debriefing on the tech is any indication, when this is all done, you should be able to regain full mobility in your legs. So, if you’re ready, we’ll go ahead and get you prepped for surgery.”

“Yeah, I’m ready.” Felicity nodded. 

“Great. Well then, I’ll see you in the OR.” Dr. Faust said before shaking Oliver and Felicity’s hands one last time before departing with Dr. Yang right behind him.

A few minutes later, an OR nurse came into the room to prep Felicity and, before she knew it, the nurse was announcing that it was time to take her in.

Oliver grasped both of her hands in his. “I love you. And I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?” 

“Yeah.” Felicity nodded. “I love you too.”

Oliver gave her a smile before placing a kiss on her forehead.

After that, Felicity was rolled into the operating room and then she was being put under anesthesia and then...darkness. 

* * *

 

Felicity’s mind woke up before her eyes did. She could hear beeping from some type of a machine...a heart monitor maybe? The beeping seemed pretty rhythmic.

And her back was sore. Why was her back so sore?

And then she remembered. Everything from earlier today came flooding back to her. That _was_ a heart monitor she was hearing...because she was in a hospital in Midway City where she just underwent an experimental surgery to regain the ability to walk. 

She couldn’t help but laugh internally about that. It sounded like something out of a science fiction movie. But then again...as Felicity lay in this hospital there’s a guy back in Star City who can literally use _magic_...and one of her friends had the ability to run faster than the speed of light. So maybe her being able to walk again wasn’t such a crazy thing after all.

Although she was still a little tired, Felicity decided to open her eyes anyway, and when she did, she saw Oliver lounging in a chair doing something on his tablet...maybe reading or watching a movie or something? Felicity couldn’t tell. 

“Hey.” She said and it wasn’t until that moment that she realized how raspy her voice sounded...and howunbelievably thirsty she was. “Is there...any water?” She asked—or at least, she hoped that’s what she said. He brain-to-mouth filter barely functioned when she was alert and stone-cold sober. She couldn’t trust it when she was high on pain meds and recovering from anesthesia.

“Hey, baby, you’re up.” Oliver said softly as he set his tablet down and moved closer to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Thirsty.” Felicity replied. 

Without a word, Oliver grabbed a cup of water from the table next to her bed and placed the straw between her lips. Felicity sucked on the straw and felt the ice cold water hit her lips and _on my god did water always taste this good?_

Felicity took several long sips from the straw before pulling it away from her mouth.

“Better?” Oliver asked as he set the cup back on the table.

“Much.” Felicity nodded. “So how long have I been out?” 

“About eight hours.” Oliver told her. “It’s after midnight now.” 

“Seriously?” Felicity asked in surprise.

“Yeah well, since this was an experimental surgery they didn’t know exactly how long it would last so I think they gave you a lot of anesthesia just in case.” Oliver explained.

“How long did the surgery last?”

“About five hours. And then you’ve just been here, asleep, for the past three. Curtis and Paul left about two hours ago to get some sleep, but I told them I’d text them when you were out of surgery, which I did, and they said they’ll come by tomorrow morning to see you.”

Felicity nodded in acknowledgement. She was still a little out of it, but she thought she caught everything he said.

“So what now?” Felicity asked.

“Now, I should probably grab the doctor and let him know you’re awake.” Oliver stated.

“Okay.” Felicity nodded.

Oliver left the room briefly and when he returned a few moments later, Dr. Faust was on his heels.

“Miss Smoak!” Dr. Faust greeted quietly, but enthusiastically when he entered the room. “How are you feeling?”

“My back is sore.” Felicity replied. 

“Well, that is to be expected.” Dr. Faust explained. “So...do you feel any kind of sensation in your legs? Any tingling or anything?”

“Well...actually, now that you mention it...yeah kinda. I feel a little tingling in my lower back.” Felicity replied.

“That’s very good!” Dr. Faust exclaimed with a grin. “That means the bio-stimulant is working.” He explained before grabbing Felicity’s right foot. “So I’m gonna put some pressure on your feet and toes and you let me know if you feel anything.”

“Okay.” Felicity nodded.

“Do you feel anything?” Dr. Faust asked as he pressed on her foot with his thumbs. 

“Uh...it does kinda feel tingly wherever you put pressure.” Felicity told him.

“Okay...and what about this foot?” Dr. Faust asked as he moved to perform the same action on her other foot. 

“It’s the same.” Felicity stated.

“Okay. And what about when I do this?” Dr. Faust asked as he picked up one of her legs and started applying pressure along her calf and shin and up her thigh. 

“It feels tingly when you press on it.” Felicity stated.

Dr. Faust did the same thing with her other leg with the same result.

“So when you say ‘tingly’ is it like pins-and-needles kind of tingling or is it more like when your leg falls asleep kind of tingling?” Dr. Faust asked.

“The second one.” Felicity replied.

“Okay, well, I’ll tell you, I’m feeling very optimistic right now. I know it might seem minimal, but the fact that you’re feeling any kind of sensation at all is very good news. I’m very confident that you could be walking again in as little as a month. And I know that you’ll be doing physical therapy with Paul. I’d say that, once you get back to Star City, I’d take it easy for about a week or at least until the soreness in your back subsides before you begin PT. All in all, things are looking really good, Miss Smoak. I’ll come back in and check on you in a few hours. Congratulations!” Dr. Faust shook both of their hands before leaving the room.

“Wow.” was all Felicity managed to say after Dr. Faust left the room. “Curtis actually did it.”

“I’m so happy for you, honey!” Oliver exclaimed with a wide grin on his face.

“Yeah...I’m still kinda processing so you might need to get back to me.” Felicity confessed.

“Fair enough. Well then, in the meantime...are you hungry?” Oliver asked.

“Um...not really. But I also haven’t eaten since about seven in the morning Star City time which was...” Felicity paused briefly to do the math in her head—which was difficult considering her current mental state, “fourteen hours ago.” Felicity concluded with a frown. “So maybe I should eat something.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Oliver agreed. “I’ll go down to the cafeteria to get you something. Is there anything in particular you want. Doctor Faust said they pretty have everything.”

“Uh...nothing too heavy. Something light...like soup or something.” Felicity replied.

“Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Oliver said before giving Felicity a kiss on the forehead and then leaving the room.

* * *

 

Oliver returned fifteen minutes later with two styrofoam containers and a can of Coke. He set the round container, which Felicity assumed held her soup, on the mobile tray. Oliver pressed a button on the bed so that Felicity was sitting upright—which irritated the soreness in her lower back—before he moved the tray right up close to her so she could eat.

“Are you okay to eat on your own?” Oliver asked as he hovered next to her bed. 

“I think so.” Felicity responded.

“Okay, well, just let me know if you need any help.”

“I will.” Felicity promised.

Oliver went to sit back in his chair then and opened up his styrofoam container.

“You got something?” Felicity asked, gesturing towards the container in his lap.

“Yeah.” Oliver responded. “While you were in surgery, I didn’t want to leave because I didn’t know when the surgery would be over. And then, when it was over, I didn’t want to leave because I wanted to be here as soon as you woke up. So I actually haven’t eaten in about fourteen hours either.”

Felicity felt a small smile spread across her face at his words. Something about him not wanting to leave this room until he knew she was out of surgery and doing well made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. 

The two of them ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Felicity saw Oliver begin to fiddle with his tablet and then an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer started playing on his screen.

* * *

 

After Felicity finished her tomato soup she could feel herself getting tired—which was interesting since she had only just woken up about an hour before—but, either way, her eyes were starting to droop close and all she wanted to do was lay down.

“Can you lower my bed?” Felicity asked. “I’m sleepy.” 

“Of course.” Oliver responded before standing up to press the button on her bed that lowered it back into a flat position.

“Goodnight.” Felicity mumbled sleepily. She only vaguely heard Oliver say goodnight back and then press his lips to her forehead before she drifted off.

* * *

 

Felicity’s eyes fluttered open when she felt sunlight streaming in on her face. As if on autopilot, she reached over to grab her phone like she always did when she woke up at home, before remembering that she was in the hospital and her phone was still stashed in her bag.

She looked over to see if Oliver was awake, but he wasn’t yet—which might be the first time, ever, that she woke up before him. He was always awake at the crack of dawn and ready to start the day while she’s hitting her snooze button for the tenth time. She decided that she really had no other choice than to just lie in her bed and wait for him to wake up. 

Felicity watched him as his chest rose and fell softly. It was strange how much younger he looked when he slept. Maybe it was because, when he was sleeping, he wasn’t carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was at peace. It reminded her of the look he always had when they were living in Ivy Town. Sometimes she felt guilty for being the one to drag him back into the vigilante life. They’d left because he had been so consumed with darkness after his time in the League. But she had to remind herself that he was an adult who could make his own choices and he chose to stay in Star City.

As Felicity continued to stare at him, she wondered how he could be comfortable sleeping, basically upright, in that chair before remembering that he’d probably slept in much worse conditions. That plane on Lian Yu, where he lived during part of his time there, that didn’t even really have a roof so was totally open to the elements. How often did it rain on Lian Yu? Or snow? How did he keep from getting a cold? There was still a lot she didn’t know about Oliver’s time away. He had told her some, especially when they were traveling the world together and living in Ivy Town, but she knew there was still a lot he hadn’t told her. She tried not to push him about it; she knew that he would tell her when he was ready, but that didn’t stop her from wondering.

“Hey, good morning.” Oliver’s soft voice puked her out of her thoughts.

“Good morning.” She responded with a soft smile. “Did you sleep well?”

“Hm...I managed.” Oliver replied. “What about you?”

“Same.” She admitted. “It was kinda hard to get comfortable.”

“I’m sorry.” He said sympathetically. “But don’t worry, because tonight you’ll be discharged and then we can go back to Star City and you’ll be able to sleep in your own bed.” Oliver said as he ran his fingers along her cheek and jaw.

“Can’t wait.” Felicity replied with a soft smile.

“Are you hungry? Do you want some breakfast?” Oliver asked.

“Sure. Maybe just some fruit or something, though.”

“Okay.” Oliver nodded. “I’ll be back soon.” He said before placing a soft kiss on her forehead and leaving the room.

A few minutes after Oliver left, Dr. Faust entered the room.

“Good morning, Miss Smoak. How are you feeling?” He greeted her.

“Uh...I feel pretty good. It was kinda hard to find a comfortable position to sleep in because my back is still sore, but other than that I feel good.”

“Yeah. You’re still gonna be sore for a while, but I’m gonna send you home with some pain meds so hopefully that’ll help. Have you been feeling anymore sensation?” 

“Well, I just woke up, but I haven’t really noticed any major difference since last night.” Felicity replied.

“Alright, well I’m going to do that pressure test with my hands like I did last night and then I’m gonna test your reflexes, okay?” 

“Okay.” Felicity nodded.

Dr. Faust did the same thing he did the night before where he pressed on Felicity’s feet and legs and then he helped her swing her legs over the side of the bed so he could test her reflexes by hitting her knees with that little hammer. Although, she didn’t really feel the hammer hit her knees except for a slight tingling sensation, both of her legs did kick out slightly which caused Felicity’s heartbeat to quicken because _holy frak!_ ; the doctor at Star City General had done the same thing after her accident and her legs hadn’t responded at all.

Just as Dr. Faust was finishing up testing her reflexes, Oliver walked in the room.

“My legs kicked out!” Felicity announced excitedly as soon as Oliver was in the room.

“What?” Oliver asked in confusion.

“He was testing my reflexes, you know where they hit your knee with the little hammer, and my legs kicked out!” Felicity elaborated. “It was only a little bit, but they didn’t do that when the doctor at Star City General tasted my reflexes after my accident.”

To demonstrate what she was talking about, Dr. Faust did the reflex test again so Oliver could see, and once again, both her legs jerked just slightly in response.

“Oh my god!” Oliver gaped. “Oh my god, Felicity that’s amazing!”

“Okay, now I want to see how your toes will respond when pricked. Don’t worry, the needle is dulled so it won’t pierce your skin.” Dr. Faust announced.

He and Oliver helped Felicity get her legs back into the bed so that Dr. Faust could better perform the test on her toes.

Once again, she didn’t really feel much sensation except for some tingling while he was poking at her toes, but she could clearly see that some of her toes would twitch slightly when poked with the needle.

“Well, it looks like the bio-stimulant is starting to work already. I’ll check back in with you when you’re ready to be discharged.” Dr. Faust said before leaving the room.

Felicity was still staring, wide-eyed, at her legs after Dr. Faust left.

“I can’t believe it actually worked.” Felicity breathed out in utter shock.

“Yeah it did.” Oliver responded. “And pretty soon, you’ll be able to walk again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that medical stuff wasn’t too cringey?
> 
> Anyway...hope you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter does get a bit smutty at the end, but it’s not a whole lot and it’s not very explicit.

Later that evening, Felicity was discharged from the hospital and she and Oliver took the jet back to Star City. Curtis and Paul decided to stay in Midway for a little longer but said they would be back in time for Felicity to start physical therapy.

By the time Oliver and Felicity arrived back at the loft, Felicity was completely exhausted and just wanted to sleep. She had said that she was fine recuperating at Laurel’s but Oliver had insisted that she stay at the loft with him because it would be easier for him to take care of her.

“Alright, don’t worry about unpacking or anything right now, just get some sleep.” Oliver said as he carried Felicity up the stairs to their— _the_ —bedroom. It wasn’t _their_ bedroom anymore, Felicity had to remind herself.

“Not a problem.” Felicity mumbled as she snuggled closer into his chest. She was basically half asleep already.

Moments later, Felicity could feel Oliver setting her down on what felt like a bed.

“I’ll see you in the morning, okay?” Oliver said softly before brushing back her hair and kissing her on the forehead.

Felicity just hummed in response and the last thing she heard before she drifted off to sleep was Oliver whispering “I love you.”

* * *

 

Felicity wasn’t ready to wake up yet. When she felt the sun shining on her eyes she immediately grabbed a pillow to cover her face. She had no idea what time it was, but she felt like she could still sleep for another month.

Unfortunately, she wouldn’t get the opportunity because the next thing she knew, she was smelling bacon and coffee and she could hear footsteps. She uncovered her face to see Oliver coming towards her, carrying a tray filled with (really delicious smelling) food.

“Good morning.” Oliver greeted her softly with a smile. “I hope I didn’t wake you up, I just thought you might want breakfast.”

“Uh...no, you didn’t wake me up.” Felicity reassured him as she tried to sit up. Oliver quickly set down the tray and grabbed her hands to help her into a seated position. “Thanks.” Felicity said once she was upright.

Oliver smiled before setting the tray down on her lap. “Well, I’ll let you eat.” He said after a brief, awkward, pause before moving to leave the room.

“No wait!” Felicity called out. “Stay with me. I don’t want to eat by myself. Come here.” Felicity said as she pat the spot next to her on the bed where Oliver usually slept.

Oliver looked like he wanted to protest for a moment, but then he nodded his head and sat down next to her on the bed.

“How’d you sleep?” Felicity asked as she began cutting up her French toast into bite-sized pieces.

“I think I should be asking you that.” Oliver responded.

“Mm maybe.” Felicity shrugged. “I just know that you don’t really sleep well alone.” Felicity said before shoveling a piece of French toast into her mouth.

“Uh...I slept fine.” Oliver responded with a nod. “What about you? How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty much the same as I’ve been sleeping since the accident.” Felicity responded taking a bite of her bacon and a sip of coffee.

“What do you mean?” Oliver asked.

“Well, since the only way I can move my legs is by physically picking them up and adjusting them, it makes it harder to find a comfortable position to sleep in. You kinda just have to pick one position and stick with it. That can be kind of annoying.” Felicity explained.

“You never told me that before.” Oliver observed.

Felicity just shrugged as she took s few more bites of her French toast. “It’s not really that big a deal. It’s more annoying than anything else. At least I stopped having nightmares, though.”

“Well, that’s good.” Oliver responded. “It wouldn’t do either of us any good if we were both having nightmares.” He joked which caused Felicity to chuckle.

“We’re just two screwed up peas in a pod.” Felicity joked with a laugh.

“So how are your legs feeling?” Oliver asked after a few moments of silence.

“Tingly.” Felicity responded. “Which, I guess, is a good thing. It means the neurons are starting to fire again.”

“Can you feel anything?”

“I mean, like when I do what Dr. Faust was doing when he would rub my legs and put pressure on them; I can feel that. And like, I can kinda feel the weight of this tray on my lap.” Felicity responded.

“That’s amazing!” Oliver exclaimed with a smile.

“Yeah. Although I do kinda wish I could start the physical therapy, like, right now. I’m just tired of waiting, ya know? I just want to have my legs back!”

“I know.” Oliver responded. “But your body needs time to heal from the surgery first.” He reminded her.

Felicity sighed in resignation. “Ugh I know! I know I need to learn to be patient. But you know I’ve never been very good at that.” Felicity said as she glanced over at him.

Oliver laughed. “Yeah no kidding.”

“But at least I’ll still have my work to keep me occupied!”

“What?” Oliver asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Well, I told Ned and the board that I wouldn’t be coming into the office for a while, but that doesn’t mean I can’t work from home.” Felicity replied.

“Felicity, you just had major surgery, you can’t immediately jump back into work.”

“Oh come on!” Felicity protested. “I’m bedridden anyway. I might as well be productive. I can even still help you and the team remotely. My legs might not work, but my brain still does!”

“No way, Felicity. You need to rest.” Oliver protested.

“Oliver, don’t you remember after I was released from the hospital after my accident and you kept telling me that I could still be on the team even being in a wheelchair, but I wasn’t so sure? Well now, I’m sure that I’m perfectly capable of still being CEO of Palmer Tech _and_ Overwatch and you’re saying that I shouldn’t.”

“Well, that was different.” Oliver argued. “You were already mostly healed from the accident by then.”

Felicity just rolled her eyes at his nonsensical reasoning. Oliver had been getting much better at not being a hypocrite, but apparently not where she was concerned.

“Oliver, I can still rest and heal _and_ do my job. You can either support my decision or I’ll just go stay at Laurel’s and let Thea take care of me.” Felicity stated in a warning tone so he knew she was serious.

The two of them just stared at each other for several moments before Oliver finally sighed. “Fine.” He agreed.

“Good!” Felicity responded with a smile. “Now why don’t you take me downstairs so I’m not cooped up here all day.”

Oliver did as he was told, setting aside the tray, he picked her up and carried her down to the main level. He even helped her get set up on the couch with the TV remote and her laptop.

The rest of the week continued on in pretty much the same way after that: Felicity slept in the main bedroom, Oliver in the guest room. They ate breakfast together then Felicity would set up shop on the couch. Oliver even convinced Thea that he could do his work on the campaign from home. Felicity was bored out of her mind most of the time, not being able to leave the house, but she just had to keep reminding herself that this was what her body needed.

* * *

 

 

Finally, Felicity’s week of hell was over and her first physical therapy appointment was the next day. 

She and Oliver sat on the couch together and watched old episodes of Friends while Felicity returned some work emails until Oliver got a phone call.

“Hey, Speedy...” Oliver spoke into his phone after answering. “Uh, Okay. I’m a little busy—Alright, fine. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Oliver said before hanging up the phone. “Thea needs me to come to the Bunker. There’s a robbery in progress at Star City National Bank.” Oliver told Felicity. “But I don’t have to go, if you need me here...”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “I’m sure I can take care of myself for an hour.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Oliver! Go!” Felicity insisted, pushing him off the couch.

“Fine, but I’m calling Lyla to—“

“Oh my god Oliver, I don’t need a babysitter!” Felicity rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.

“...to take care of you while I’m gone.” Oliver finished, ignoring Felicity’s comment.

Oliver left soon after that and only ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

“It’s open!” Felicity called out from the couch.

“What if I had been a murderer...or Damien Darhk?” Lyla asked as she let herself in.

Without a word, Felicity simply held up her tablet that showed security footage from the camera pointed directly at the loft’s front door.

“Oh.” Lyla responded before sitting herself down on the couch.

“You know I’m always happy to see you, but you didn’t need to come. Oliver’s just being overprotective.” Felicity told her.

“He said you were in recovery and needed someone to watch you while he took care of some Team Arrow business.”

“Yeah, he thinks I need a babysitter.” Felicity responded, rolling her eyes.

“Because you’re in recovery?” Lyla asked and Felicity nodded her head. “And what exactly are you recovering from?”

“It’s nothing.” Felicity replied dismissively. Lyla just gave her a look that said she clearly wasn’t buying it. “I can’t tell you.” Felicity stated.

“What can’t you tell me?” Lyla pressed.

“It’s proprietary.”

“Felicity, I’m the director of ARGUS, I can keep a secret.”

“But what I can’t tell you is exactly something that ARGUS would be interested in.” Felicity responded.

“Felicity, do I look like Amanda Waller to you? I’d never betray my friends for my job. Tell me.”

Felicity groaned in defeat. “Alright fine! One of my employees at Palmer Tech created an implantable bio-stimulant that could theoretically help me walk again. The reason it has to be kept secret is because it’s never been tested before; technically I’m the guinea pig. If anyone found out that I’d had an experimental piece of technology implanted in my spine without any kind of authorization, a lot of people could get into serious trouble.”

“Wow.” Lyla responded. “...so did it work?”

“What?”

“The bio-stimulant...did it work?” Lyla repeated.

“Well, I’m still recovering from the surgery so I won’t really know until I start physical therapy but...I think it’s working, yeah. I’ve been feeling some sensation in my legs already.”

Lyla gaped at Felicity as she spoke. “Felicity, you do realize this means you basically cured paralysis.”

“Well, technically, Curtis did it. He’s the one that invented the tech.”

“But you’re the one that took the chance to have it implanted and be the guinea pig. If it works, then your board might approve trials and you could begin to sell it commercially.”

“Yeah, that is kind of the plan.” Felicity admitted. “I just hope the board goes for it. They don’t really like me. They either think I’m too young, too inexperienced, or just plain unsuitable for the job. A lot of them are even still mad at me that I overrode their decision to lay people off.”

“Well, if they don’t go for it they’re all idiots and then you should just quit and start your own company.” Lyla stated. “But anyway...since you told me your secret, I guess I should tell you mine.”

“What?”

“I’m pregnant.” Lyla stated.

“What?!” Felicity exclaimed. “Oh my god, are you serious?”

“Yep.” Lyla nodded. “I’m twelve weeks along.”

“Oh my god, Lyla, that’s amazing!” Felicity exclaimed as she leaned forward to give Lyla a hug. “So how do you feel?”

“Well, nauseous and exhausted, of course. But also kind of freaking out a little, to be honest. I’m pregnant and I’m almost forty-one and my daughter’s only sixteen months old.”

“Well, maybe it’ll be nice for Sara to have a sibling so close in age. They’ll be, like, best friends.” Felicity said reassuringly.

“Well, maybe you’re right. My sister and I are fifteen months apart and we’ve always been really close.” Lyla responded.

“So does John know yet?” Felicity asked.

“Yeah he knows. I made sure to tell him as soon as I found out this time. Last time, when I was pregnant with Sara, I waited until I was already four months along, and even then he ended up finding out from Waller.” Lyla said.

“Yeah, not to prod or anything, but I always have kinda wondered why you waited so long to tell him?” Felicity asked.

“Honestly, I think I was just scared. Johnny and I were back together again, but we weren’t married. And, even when we were married, we had never talked about having kids. We spent most of our marriage at war so having kids in the middle of all that seemed insane, and then, we only stayed married for about a month after getting stateside and most of that time was spent dealing with our own personal traumas. So, when I found out I was pregnant, I guess there was a part of me that wondered if he would actually stay. And if he _did_ stay would it be because he wanted to or just because he felt he needed to do the right thing for the baby? When I realized that I had no reason to be so nervous and I decided to tell him, it was in the middle of the siege and I figured I should tell him in case we all died.” Lyla explained.

“Wow. I just can’t imagine how you do it.” Felicity admitted.

“Do what?”

“Have kids. Especially in the kind of world we live in and the work that we do. I mean, we could literally die at any moment. Doing what we do, we’re constantly in danger. I mean, in just one second your kids could be left orphans. Doesn’t that freak you out?”

“Of course it does.” Lyla confessed. “But, the way I see it, whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen. As terrifying as it sounds, whether you live or die is kind of out of your control in our line of work. But you can’t let that stop you from living your life. I mean, think of it this way: cops and firefighters have families even knowing that every day they go to work, they might not come back. Yeah this life is dangerous and scary, but it’s the life we chose.”

“Hm. I guess you’re right.” Felicity conceded.

“So does that mean you and Oliver are gonna have kids?” Lyla asked point blank.

“Uh...Oliver and I aren’t even together.” Felicity responded.

“Really?” Lyla asked, incredulously. “Because you’re living with him and letting him take care of you while you recover from major surgery. And I _know_ you still love him. And he obviously still loves you too because he called in a babysitter when he had to go out for an _hour_. Look, I don’t know why you two separated...and I don’t need to know, it’s none of my business, but whatever it is, it seems to me that maybe you’ve already forgiven him, but your mind just hasn’t caught up with your heart yet.”

Lyla’s words caught Felicity completely off-guard, but before she had time to respond, Oliver walked through the door.

“Wow, has it really been an hour already?” Felicity exclaimed.

“Actually, we decided to let the SCPD handle things. They got it covered.” Oliver explained.

“Really?” Felicity asked, incredulously.

“Well, if I’m going to be Mayor I have to learn to trust the police force to do their jobs.” Oliver stated.

“Alright, well, now that Oliver’s back I should probably go.” Lyla said as she stood up from the couch.

“Okay, well I’ll see you soon, then?” Felicity called after her.

“Yeah. And think about what I said.” Lyla said, giving her a nod.

“I will.” _Actually, I don’t think I’ll be able to think about anything else._

“Bye, Lyla. Thanks for coming!” Oliver said as he showed her out.

Oliver returned a few moments later and sat down next to Felicity on the couch. “So what does Lyla want you to think about?”

“Oh it’s nothing.” Felicity shrugged.

“Okay.” Oliver responded.

After that, Oliver made dinner and they spent the rest of the night watching TV together.

And, of course, Felicity couldn’t stop thinking about Lyla’s words. Especially when Lyla said that maybe Felicity had already forgiven Oliver and she just hadn’t realized it yet.

Had she already forgiven him?

Ever since he told her about William, he’d been pretty open about everything. He had even talked about wanting her and William to meet. And then there was that whole Oliver wanting to tell the public about William thing. And he was doing it, not because he was really forced to, but just because he didn’t want to have to keep lying anymore. When she told him she wanted to slow things down her exact words were that marriage was about inclusion and she didn’t feel like he had been including her. But in the weeks since, it seemed like he hadn’t made a single decision about anything without talking to her.

Maybe she had forgiven him.

“I think I’m ready for bed.” Felicity announced suddenly.

“Okay—“ Oliver responded.

“And I want you to come to bed with me.” Felicity stated.

Oliver stared at her for a few moments before speaking. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Felicity nodded. “When I told you I wanted us to take a break, I told you that I wanted you to prove to me that I could trust you and you have. You told me about your decision to tell the public about William before you actually did it, and not just like five minutes before either. And you supported me in my decision to have this surgery and you’ve been taking care of me. Lyla told me that I had already forgiven you and I just didn’t realize it...and she was right. I do forgive you and I love you and I want to be with you.”

Without another word, Felicity leaned in and pressed her lips to his and only seconds later, he was parting his lips and kissing her back.

Not long after their initial contact, Oliver picked her up and began carrying her up the stairs to the bedroom, all the while maintaining their kiss.

After Oliver laid her down on the bed, Felicity began pulling on Oliver’s shirt trying to get it off.

“Wait, are you sure about this?” Oliver asked, breaking the kiss. “You only just had your surgery, you’re still healing.”

“Oliver, I’m fine, I promise. You’re not gonna hurt me.” Felicity reassured him. “Trust me. I want this.”

Oliver looked unsure for a few moments, but then he nodded. He removed his shirt, tossing it onto the floor beside the bed, and then crawled on top of her.

Oliver wasted no time, beginning to kiss along her jaw and down her neck. He paused for a moment to remove her shirt before resuming his activities trailing kisses along her collarbone and down her torso to her breasts. Since Felicity had spent the entire day at home, she hadn’t felt the need to put on a bra which just meant there was one less thing to do as Oliver began kneading the flesh of her breasts with his calloused hands.

God she had missed this. Besides the fact that they hadn’t had sex in weeks because of their separation, they hadn’t had sex at all since before the accident.

While Felicity was recovering in the hospital she had done some research on what sex was like with a spinal cord injury. Pretty much all the articles she read said that it was still possible for her to get pregnant—so she made sure to continue taking her birth control—but that she would still need to use lube because her body wouldn’t be able to produce its own natural lubricant. She also read one article that said, with practice, she could actually trick her body into having a phantom orgasm by thinking really hard.

But, despite all the research, now that she was here, actually having sex, she was still nervous. Even if the bio-stimulant was starting to work, she wasn’t back at one hundred percent yet; she was still mostly paralyzed with only a little sensation.

“Hey. Are you okay?” Oliver’s soft voice pulled her out of her thoughts as he stopped what he was doing to look at her.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She responded, trying to sound reassuring, but he obviously didn’t believe her.

“Talk to me.” Oliver encouraged, softly.

“I’m just...I guess I’m just nervous. First time having sex since the accident. I read some articles on what it’d be like but...”

“We can stop, if you want.”

“No. No, I don’t want to stop. I want to do this. It’s just...all the articles said that I might not be able to have an orgasm...and obviously I can’t really move much so you’d pretty much have to do most of the work.” Felicity babbled.

“Hey.” Oliver said soothingly, stroking her cheek. “I love you. Nothing will ever change that. I’ll do whatever I can for you. Okay?”

“Okay.” Felicity nodded, giving him a reassuring smile.

Oliver returned her smile before placing a soft kiss on her lips.

“Now please tell me I didn’t just completely ruin the mood!” Felicity said.

“No, you didn’t.” Oliver chuckled. “I promise.”

Oliver soon resumed his earlier activities of kissing down her torso. He took one of her nipples in his mouth while kneading the other one with his hand. As Oliver did that, Felicity began to think the whole “phantom orgasm” idea wasn’t so crazy after all.

Oliver continued kissing down her torso until he reached her pelvis. “Can you feel that?” He asked as he rubbed his hand along her thigh.

“A little. But it’s mostly just a tingling sensation.” Felicity replied.

“Are you still on birth control?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah. But maybe we should use a condom, just to be safe. Do you still have any?”

“Yeah, I should.” Oliver replied, getting up from the bed to look in his drawers.

“And some lube. We’ll definitely need that.”

“I don’t know if I have any; we’ve never really needed it before. But I’ll check anyway just in case.” Oliver stayed before going into the bathroom.

He returned a few minutes later, holding up a packet of condoms and a bottle of lube. “Thank god for Donna Smoak.” He stated with a chuckle.

“What?” Felicity asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Do you remember, after the proposal, your mom gave us that box that she said would be ‘very helpful’ but the way that she said it made us too afraid to open it?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah.” Felicity nodded.

“Well, it turns out the box is full of stuff like condoms and lube...and sex toys.”

“Jesus Christ!” Felicity exclaimed, throwing her head back. “Of course that’s what my mom would give us as an engagement present. She gave me a vibrator for my bat mitzvah.”

Oliver took his pants and underwear off—and helped Felicity take hers off too—before climbing back on the bed.

He rolled the condom on before rubbing the lube on top of it and then positioned himself over her.

“You ready?” He asked gently.

“Yeah.” Felicity nodded.

Oliver thrust into her, gently at first, but then he started to pick up the pace.

It felt kind of strange, if Felicity was being perfectly honest. And she felt a little awkward. She couldn’t really do much except just lie there. She had to remind herself to just stay out of her head and not get too wrapped up in her own insecurities. She tried to do as much as she could to help Oliver along; she squeezed his ass and nibbled at his neck. It seemed to be working because his thrusting soon became erratic and then he was letting out a loud moan that signified his orgasm.

As Oliver came down from his high, Felicity kept reminding herself not to feel bad that she didn’t have an orgasm. It wasn’t her fault and it wasn’t his fault either.

Oliver laid on top of her for a few moments as he caught his breath while she stroked the back of his neck before he got up from the bed to dispose of the condom and clean himself. He returned moments later to clean her up too before tossing the wet washcloth in the laundry basket and laying down on the bed beside her and pulling her into his arms.

“Was that okay?” He asked softly. “Did you feel anything?”

“Um...kinda. I mean, I could actually feel you inside of me although it didn’t feel exactly how I remember it.” Felicity replied.

“But it was still okay? I didn’t hurt you?”

“No, no. You didn’t hurt me at all.” Felicity reassured him, stroking his jaw. “It was nice.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” Felicity nodded.

“Good.” Oliver said softly before placing a kiss on her forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Felicity responded.

It didn’t take long after that before they were both drifting off to sleep.

Even though Felicity hadn’t really felt anything, it still felt good to just be close to Oliver like that again. She hadn’t realized how much she missed that intimacy.

Although, she really did hope this bio-stimulant worked because Felicity didn’t know if she could go the rest of her life without having another orgasm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I actually did do some research about sex when you have a spinal cord injury. I’ve never had an SCI myself (thankfully) but I did try to do my best based on the articles I read.
> 
> Also, I hope you enjoyed the little insight into Lyla. Because Lyla gave birth to Sara in 3x01 which would’ve been October, Sara was probably conceived some time around late December/January but Lyla didn’t tell John until the siege which happened in May so I wanted to show some insight into why it took her so long to tell him. Also, spoiler alert, there will be no erasing Sara Diggle in this fic. Baby Sara deserved better (damn you, Barry).


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s more medical stuff in this chapter (!!!), but it’s stuff that I have more experience with so I hope it’s a little more accurate. (But, as always, if you see a mistake, feel free to correct me.)

Felicity woke up the next morning feeling very warm, but it was a nice kind of warm. It was the kind of warm that was cozy and comforting. It was the first time in a long time that she had woken up feeling that way.

And then she remembered _why_ she felt this way. She and Oliver had had sex the night before and now his body was wrapped around hers the way a sloth wrapped around a tree branch.

“Good morning.” Oliver whispered in her ear.

“Morning.” Felicity whispered back.

“You start physical therapy today.” Oliver observed.

“Yeah I do.” Felicity nodded. “You’re still coming with me, right?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.” Oliver replied.

“I’ve never had to do physical therapy before.”

“I had to do physical therapy once in high school.” Oliver said. “I tore my ACL during a lacrosse tournament so I had to have surgery and then do physical therapy.”

“You played lacrosse in high school?” Felicity asked.

“Yeah. It wasn’t really my favorite sport, but I liked the competition and athleticism. I wasn’t very good at working with a team though.”

“Shocker.” Felicity replied sarcastically which caused Oliver to laugh and Felicity could feel the vibrations from his laugh ripple through his whole body. “I can’t believe you played lacrosse.” Felicity continued. “I hate lacrosse players.”

“Why?” Oliver asked.

“Because I was stalked by one my freshman year of college.” Felicity replied.

“Oh that’s right! You told me that. What was his name? Brody or something?”

“Brock.” Felicity corrected. “Brock Hewitt.”

“Right, well, not all lacrosse players are creepy stalkers.”

“No, but some of them _are_ amazing cooks that make breakfast for their fiancés before their first physical therapy appointments.”

A laugh escaped Oliver at Felicity’s words and he placed a kiss on her lips. “What do you want? Wait, no let me guess...blueberry pancakes with turkey bacon and coffee no sugar extra cream.” Oliver said as he scooped her up into his arms.

“You know me so well.” Felicity responded, pressing her lips to his cheek.

Oliver carried Felicity down the stairs and to the kitchen where she sat at the counter while he made breakfast. Felicity’s physical therapy appointment was at nine—she made sure to get the very first appointment of the day because she was also returning to work today (which Oliver was not happy about).

“Are you sure you want to go back to work today? You should still be resting!” Oliver said as he helped her get dressed for her appointment.

“Oliver, I’ve had plenty of rest. I want to go back to work. Besides, I’ll still be in my chair for a while so I won’t be doing anything too strenuous.”

“Fine.” Oliver conceded. “But I’m still coming by for lunch.”

Soon afterwards, the two of them were out the door and they arrived at Paul’s clinic ten minutes later.

Even though Paul and Felicity already knew each other and Paul was familiar with Felicity’s condition, Felicity still had to go through all that new patient stuff of filling out paperwork and answering all the same questions that you get asked by every doctor.

But finally, after all was said and done, Paul led Oliver and Felicity into a private room.

“Sorry about all the questions. I know it can be a bit annoying, but I have to ask them, it’s part of the job.” Paul said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. “But anyway...let’s get things started. So today, I’m mostly going to be testing your range of motion and then, at the end, I’ll give you some exercises you can work on at home. I’d like to see you three times a week for a month and then after that we’ll see if you still need therapy or if your good on your own. Sound good?”

“Yep.” Felicity nodded.

“Alright, so on TV you’ve probably seen those parallel bars...you know, the ones where you hold on to the sides while you walk?” Paul explained while he mimicked the action he was describing and Felicity nodded. “Well, we will get you onto one of those eventually, but not right away. See, what they never mention on TV is that, when you’ve been in a wheelchair for a while, your muscles tend to atrophy and you lose muscle mass. So I guarantee, if we got you on the parallel bars today, you’d take one step and immediately topple over because your legs just don’t have the strength to carry your weight. But luckily, that’s not a permanent problem. Believe it or not, re-learning how to walk is actually going to be the easy part. Your muscle memory will kick in and you’ll be back to one hundred percent pretty quickly, so we’ll be spending most of our time on strength-building exercises. Then, once I’m confident your legs are strong enough to support your weight, that’s when we’ll get you on the parallel bars and you can start taking your first steps. Any questions so far?”

“Yeah.” Felicity replied. “I mean, that all sounds great and all, but I actually haven’t regained that much feeling in my legs.”

“That’s okay.” Paul responded. “That’s most likely due to the fact that you’ve been bedridden since the surgery so your muscles just haven’t really had the chance to stretch themselves out. But I’m sure, once you start working, you’ll regain sensation pretty quickly.” Paul explained.

After that, Paul then went through all the standard tests to test Felicity’s strength and range of motion before they got to the actual exercises.

“Okay, so the first exercise I’m gonna give you is just some good old-fashioned leg lifts.” Paul said. “You can do these from either your wheelchair or a kitchen chair, but not from a couch or anything, because you want to be able to sit tall and straight.”

“Okay.” Felicity nodded as she sat up straight in her wheelchair.

“So all your gonna do is take a belt like this...” Paul said as he held out a long canvas belt, “...if you don’t have something like this at home you can use a dog leash or a rope or something like that you can hold the ends of close to your chest and still be able to straighten your leg out. So you’re gonna take the belt and place it right on the ball of your foot and then you’ll take the two ends and use them to pull your leg up. Now, our goal with this exercise is to eventually get to a place where you don’t need the belt and you can lift your legs on your own, but until you feel comfortable doing it on your own, you can use the belt to help you. I want you to try to do ten lifts in each leg and you should do this every day.”

“Okay.” Felicity nodded as she she struggled to perform the action. “Wow, this is harder than it looks.”

“There’s no pressure here, Miss Smoak. Curtis’s implant is the longest of long shots.” Paul said.

“I was expecting a little more encouragement from the husband of the genius who invented the thing.” Felicity joked.

“My man works miracles with technology, but the human body doesn’t play by the same rules.” Paul responded.

Felicity continued with the exercise, but she had only done three in about five minutes and she was already exhausted.

“Did Curtis ever tell you how we met?” Paul asked out of the blue.

“Mm-mm.” Felicity shook her head.

“He came in with Achilles tendinitis.” Paul explained. “He was training to qualify for the Olympics so all he cared about were results. It took me weeks just to get him focused on what really mattered.”

“How handsome his therapist was?” Felicity joked which caused Paul to smile.

“Healing.” Paul responded. “You gotta be patient with yourself. These things take time.”

Oliver, who had positioned himself next to her, pressed a kiss to her forehead and gently squeezed her shoulder.

“If you can’t do all ten in one sitting, that’s fine. Do as many as you can and then take a break for a while and then do the rest later. I know this whole process might be frustrating at times; there’ll be days where your body just won’t do what you want it to do, but if you just take it slow and steady, you might find yourself progressing faster than you thought. So I’ll leave you with this exercise and I also want you to try and massage your legs every day which should help with your flexibility. If you feel any pain at all, stop and take a break and you can also put some ice on it. Like I said, I want to see you three times a week for at least the next month—you can make those appointments at the front desk before you leave—and then, after that, we’ll go from there. Other than that, you can resume your normal daily activities.”

“Okay.” Felicity nodded. “Thank you, Paul.”

“Of course.” Paul nodded. “And I’ll see you...at your next appointment.”

After that, Oliver and Felicity went to go make the rest of her appointments. The clinic was only open during weekdays from nine in the morning to six at night so Felicity couldn’t avoid missing work, but she knew this was the only way she would ever be able to get back to the way things were before the accident so she would just have to ignore all of Mr. Dennis’ disapproving looks.

After they left the clinic, Oliver took Felicity back to the loft so she could change into her work clothes before he drove her to the office.

“Alright, I’ll see you at lunch.” Oliver said when they got to her office.

“Okay.” Felicity nodded.

Oliver leaned down to press a kiss to Felicity’s lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Felicity responded before Oliver made his way to the elevators and Felicity went to her desk.

“So are you and Oliver back together then?” Curtis’ enthusiastic voice surprised Felicity as she got into her office.

“Holy frak!” Felicity exclaimed. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Only about five minutes. But this office is completely see-through so I saw you and Oliver kiss just now so I guess that means you’re back together.”

Felicity groaned. “Yes, we are.” She responded as she positioned herself behind her desk. “Hey Gerry!” Felicity called to her assistant. “Would you mind getting me some coffee please? Thank you!” Without a word, she saw Gerry spring up from his desk and head out of the room. “Now why are you here Curtis?”

“Uh...I have the latest specs for the Power Cell.” Curtis responded, holding out a file which she took.

“Okay, looks like we’ll be able to start selling it commercially at the beginning of next quarter. Great, I’ll tell the board!” Felicity said, stashing the file amongst the others on her desk. Just then, Gerry returned placing a mug of coffee on her desk. “Thank you, Gerry. That’ll be all for now.” She told him, taking a sip and Gerry promptly left her office and returned to his own desk. Gerry was a way better assistant to her than she ever was to Oliver. Mostly because Felicity only did the bare minimum of work in protest of the fact that she was way too good for that job. Whereas Gerry was actually qualified to be an assistant and also didn’t seem to completely hate the job.

“So how was physical therapy?” Curtis asked, sitting down in one of the chairs across from her desk.

“Uh...it was tough. But it was only the first appointment so hopefully things will get better.” Felicity replied.

“They will. Paul is like a physical therapy wizard. Plus, Brandon said that you were already showing signs of improvement while you were still in the hospital, so that’s a good sign.”

“Yeah. Now let’s just hope that, when we present the implant to the board, they actually go for it.” Felicity responded.

“I’m sure they will. I mean, what kind of soulless monster says no to technology that can cure paralysis.”

“Unfortunately, the board doesn’t really care about that. They’d be much more interested in how much money it’ll cost to manufacture and how much we can sell it for.”

“See, this is why I’m glad I’m not the CEO. You want to create a product to help people, but you get stonewalled by the board because of money.” Curtis threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Yeah well, that’s capitalism.” Felicity responded.

“If you want I can ask accounting to figure out manufacturing costs—“

“No, let’s wait. We want to make sure the thing actually works first before taking any steps. We can’t make a presentation to the board until we actually have something to present. Now, as much as I enjoy seeing you, Curtis, you should probably get back to work.”

“Right, of course.” Curtis said before standing up and turning to walk out of Felicity’s office. “Oh by the way...” Curtis said after turning back around to face her. “I recently applied for a promotion to Supervising Director of Design Innovations and I was wondering if you could put in a good word for me with Mister Lopez.”

Felicity looked up at him and raised her eyebrows. “You’re asking the _CEO_ to help you get a minor promotion?”

“...maybe?” Curtis shrugged.

Felicity sighed with a shrug. “Why not? I’ll talk to Mister Lopez.”

“Yes!” Curtis exclaimed. “Thank you! You’re amazing! You’re the best CEO ever—“

“Curtis!” Felicity interrupted. “Back to work.”

“Yes, right. Thank you, Fel—Miss Smoak.” Curtis said before finally turning and walking out of Felicity’s office.

Unfortunately, Felicity didn’t really have time to get to any of her regular work before Mr. Dennis walked into her office.

“Mister Dennis, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Felicity greeted him as he approached her desk.

“Miss Smoak, we heard you were back at work and we just wanted to check in on you.” Mr. Dennis replied.

“Well, I’m doing just fine and I’m glad to be back at work.” Felicity replied politely. “Although, for the record, I did tell you that I wouldn’t be in the office for a week.”

“Yes, you did.” Mr. Dennis replied.

Before either of them could speak any further, there was a knock on Felicity’s office door.

“Hello, Mister Dennis. I’m sorry to interrupt, but Mister Jenkins just called and he wants to see you in his office as soon as possible, Miss Smoak.” Gerry stated.

“Thank you, Gerry.” Felicity gave him a polite smile and he exited the room. She turned back to Mr. Dennis. “Well, if you have nothing further to say, it looks like I’m needed in Mister Jenkins’ office.” Felicity said before pulling away from her desk and heading in the direction of the CFO’s office.

Thankfully, the rest of Felicity’s morning passed without incident and, before she knew it, Oliver was walking into her office holding takeout from Mario’s Pizzeria.

“Hey.” Oliver greeted as he sat himself down on the couch and set the pizza down on the coffee table.

“Hi.” Felicity returned his greeting as she made her way over to sit next to him, pulling herself out of her chair and onto the couch.

Oliver pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. “How was your morning?”

“It was alright. Mister Dennis missed me.” Felicity replied, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box and taking a bite.

“He’s the chairman of the board right? The one that hates you?” Oliver asked, taking a bite of his own slice.

“He doesn’t hate me. At least, I don’t think. I mean, he’s never been very nice to me. So yeah, maybe he does hate me.” Felicity chuckled.

“Well, screw ‘em.”

“I wish I could.” Felicity responded before her eyes widened when she realized what she’d said while Oliver just laughed. “Not like that! You know what I mean!” Felicity explained, giving Oliver’s arm a light smack. “He’s the chairman of the board, I have to get along with him. I just don’t know what I can do to make him like me.”

“Well, what about the implant? He might like you after that.” Oliver responded.

“I doubt it. During my dry run for the Power Cell presentation, he told me that I shouldn’t give the presentation because I was in a wheelchair. All he cares about is appearances and money and the implant is going to be really expensive. He’ll probably hate me more, actually. But _anyway_...how are things going with you?”

“Well, I spoke to Thea this morning; I told her about William. I’m giving a press conference at three.” Oliver replied.

“Wow, Oliver that’s huge! Are you ready for that?”

“Honestly, I’m pretty nervous about it, actually.” Oliver confessed. “But I know I’m doing the right thing. At least, I _hope_ I’m doing the right thing.” Oliver sighed. “ _Am_ I doing the right thing?” Oliver asked with a humorless chuckle.

“Honestly, I don’t know. But I don’t think there is a right or wrong in this situation. I guess you just have to hope things work out for the best.”

Oliver scoffed. “You know I’m not good at that.”

“I know.” Felicity responded, rubbing his arm. “You need to be able to control everything, but the truth is, you can’t. I know it sucks, but that’s life.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t.” Oliver shook his head. “I mean, Thea already knows. All I’d have to do is tell John. I don’t need to tell _everybody_.”

“That’s true.” Felicity responded. “But the whole point of the press conference is because you know everyone is going to find out eventually so, if you talk to the press first, then you control the story instead of the other way around. And that way you can protect William from the backlash.”

Oliver sighed and there was a brief pause that lapsed between them before Oliver finally spoke again. “You’re right. This is for the best, I know that. I’m just...nervous. You know, aside from Laurel and Sara, I haven’t really had to deal with any of the consequences of my pre-island actions in a while. It almost feels like I’m being punished for someone else’s mistakes. Ever since I came back from the island, all I’ve been trying to do is to get people to see the man I’ve become and not the man I used to be. I guess I’m just afraid that everyone finding out about William will remind them of the playboy and it could ruin everything I’ve been trying so hard to achieve. This could decimate my campaign.”

“I wish I could tell you there was a sure-fire way to prevent that from happening, but unfortunately, there’s really not. You just have to hope that the people see that, although you made mistakes in your past, you’re not that person anymore.”

“How can you be so sure that they will?” Oliver asked.

Felicity shrugged. “Because I did. And so did John and Thea. And even Quentin and Laurel who were the two people that hated you the most when you came back. But now they trust you with their lives because they’ve seen how much you’ve changed. If the Lance family can forgive you for everything you did to them, then getting the rest of the city to see you as the man you’ve become should be a piece of cake.”

“Thanks, Felicity.” Oliver said with a soft smile.

“We’re partners.” Felicity stated. “That’s what partners do. They support each other.”

Oliver leaned forward and kissed Felicity softly on the lips. “I love you.” He whispered.

“I love you too.” Felicity replied.

The two of them ate the rest of their pizza while making light small talk until it was time for Oliver to go back to work.

“Well, I should probably get back to the office.” Oliver said, standing up from the couch.

“I’ll walk you out.” Felicity stated as she pulled herself into her chair. “Not literally, of course. Because I can’t walk.”

“Yet.” Oliver added. “But soon.”

“Right.” Felicity nodded.

Oliver and Felicity made their way to the door that led to Felicity’s office.

“So I’ll see you later?” Oliver asked once they reached the door.

“Yeah.” Felicity nodded before turning to face her assistant who had just returned from his own lunch moments ago and was sitting quietly at his desk. “Hey Gerry!” Felicity called to him which caused him to look up at her. “I’ll be leaving for the day at 2:30. There’s somewhere I have to be at three.”

Gerry nodded. “Okay, Miss Smoak.”

Felicity turned back to Oliver with a smile. “I’m assuming the press conference is happening at your campaign office? I’ll see you there.”

“Thank you.” Oliver replied softly with a smile.

“Partners.” Felicity stated, returning his smile.

The two of them said their goodbyes and went on their way. Oliver returned to his campaign office and Felicity went back to her desk.

* * *

 

2:30 rolled around quicker than Felicity realized. She had set an alarm on her phone to remind her at 2:20 to wrap up whatever she was working on and get ready to leave so that she wasn’t late for Oliver’s press conference. This was too important to miss.

Felicity left her office and arrived at Oliver’s campaign office at 2:45. She maneuvered through all the news stations and camera crews that were starting to set up their equipment in preparation and made her way to Oliver’s personal office where he, Alex, and Thea had gathered.

“Hey.” Felicity greeted them as she shut the door behind her.

“Hey.” Thea greeted back. “We were just talking about the press conference.”

“Which, by the way, I’m still on the fence about.” Alex piped up.

“I’m not changing my mind.” Oliver stated.

“Yeah I have to agree with Alex.” Thea admitted. “But I support your decision..even if I don’t totally agree with it.”

“Thanks, Thea.” Oliver gave his sister s small smile.

“I prepared a little something for you to say.based on what you told me.” Thea said, handing him a folder. “Feel free to add anything, if you’d like.”

Just then, John and Laurel arrived and let themselves into the office.

“Hey, we got your message.” John said.

“But we’re still not sure what this is about?” Laurel added.

Oliver sighed. “Well, there’s no easy way of saying this so I’ll just come right out with it. I have a son. His name is William, he’s nine years old. Well, almost ten actually. His birthday’s coming up soon.”

“You have a son?” John asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

“Yes.” Oliver answered.

“Wait, if he’s going to be ten soon that means he was conceived about eleven years ago.” Laurel surmised.

“Yes.” Oliver confirmed.

“Even years ago...when we were dating.” Laurel concluded.

“Yes.” Oliver answered softly. “And, if you want to talk about it, we absolutely can after the press conference.”

“So...if you don’t mind me asking,” John began, “Who is William’s mother?”

“Her name is Samantha Clayton.” Oliver answered. “Samantha had told me she was pregnant. I was scared and didn’t know what to do so I told my mom. I didn’t find this out until recently, but my mom had contacted Samantha and given her a check for one million dollars to tell me that she had miscarried our baby and to never talk to me again. I didn’t even know William existed until a few months ago. When I found out, Samantha told me to keep him a secret from everyone or I couldn’t have a relationship with him—that’s why I’ve been taking all those weekend trips to Central City, that’s where they live. But Samantha and I have been talking and I was able to convince her to let me tell people. Which is why I’m telling you now and why I’m holding this press conference.”

After Oliver finished telling them the full story, there was a long silence in the room while everyone processed this information. Although Felicity and Thea already knew this story, it was new information to everyone else in the room.

Before anyone could speak, there was a soft knock on the door and one of the interns poked his head in the door.

“Mister Queen, it’s time.” The intern stated.

“Thank you, James. I’ll be right there.” Oliver said to the intern.

Without another word, Oliver walked to the door and stopped to take a deep breath. Felicity silently grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly. He looked at her and she gave him a reassuring smile.

“You can do this.” Felicity whispered.

A moment later, Oliver opened the door and was greeted by flashing cameras. He made his way to the podium that had been set up for him and was followed out of his office by Felicity, John, Laurel, Thea, and Alex who all stood off to the side watching.

“Hello everyone.” Oliver began. “First of all, I just want to thank you all for coming. The reason I’ve called you here is because I have an announcement.” Oliver paused briefly before taking a deep breath and continuing. “Many years ago, when I was young and foolish, I made a mistake. I had an affair with a woman and she got pregnant with my child. I have a son. The reason I’m telling you this is because I promised to lead this city in the light of day and I can’t do that if I’m keeping secrets. I’m also telling you to show you that, although I made mistakes in my past, I’m not that person anymore. I can’t tell you what to believe or how to think and if this revelation causes you to withdraw your support from me, then I don’t begrudge you for it. But I hope that my honesty and transparency will show you that people can change. We’ve all made mistakes, but I believe that no one is beyond redemption. Thank you.” Oliver ended his speech and then promptly stepped away from the podium and walked back to his office.

Felicity, Thea, Laurel, John, and Alex all followed him back to his office and Alex, who was the last one in, shut the door behind him.

“I’ll have the PR team field questions to try and control the story as much as we can.” Alex informed Oliver.

“Thank you, Alex.” Oliver said before Alex left the room.

“Ollie, can we talk now?” Laurel asked.

“Yes, of course.” Oliver replied.

The other three in the room took that as their cue to leave.

“Hey, Felicity, you wanna go grab some coffee?” Thea asked.

“Sure.” Felicity replied and the two women soon left to head to the Starbucks that was just a few blocks away.

Five minutes later, Felicity and Thea arrived at Starbucks and ordered their coffees.

“So when Ollie was telling me earlier, he said that you already knew and it was the reason you guys had separated.” Thea began.

“More or less, yes.” Felicity responded. “We separated because he had been lying about it.”

“And you knew he was gonna hold this press conference?”

“Yes.” Felicity nodded.

“You know there’s no chance that Darhk didn’t see it, right?”

“I know.” Felicity sighed. “I know there’s a risk and so did Oliver, but he knew that thing about Moira’s check would get leaked eventually and he thought that if he revealed the story first he could better control it and protect William. Besides, if something does happen to William, our team can protect him.”

“I hope you’re right.” Thea replied with a sigh.


	9. Chapter 9

The team returned to the Bunker after a routine patrol as Felicity turned to face them from her spot at the computers.

“How’d it go out there?” Felicity asked.

“It was alright.” Oliver replied. “A few drug deals, an attempted armed robbery...all in all a pretty typical night in Star City.”

“I stopped two attempted rapes.” Laurel chimed in.

“Yeah I caught a guy breaking and entering into a house on Jackson Ave and I also stopped a mugging on 19th Street.” Thea added.

“What about you, John?”

“Saved a couple bystanders from a Los Halcones drive-by shooting,” John answered.

“Did you get the shooter?” Laurel asked.

“Unfortunately, no, he got away. I would’ve pursued him, but I didn’t want to go without backup and, with another baby on the way...”

“Well, that’s okay.” Felicity tried to reassure him. “I’m sure we’ll be able to get him eventually.”

“Wait, did you say another baby on the way?” Thea asked.

“Uh yeah...” John replied a little sheepishly. “Lyla’s pregnant.”

“Oh my god that’s amazing!” Thea exclaimed as she wrapped John up in a hug. Laurel followed soon after, also giving John a hug.

“Congratulations!” Oliver smiled at John and gave him a firm, but warm, handshake.

“Congratulations, Mister Diggle.” A strong voice came from behind them, they all turned to see Malcolm Merlyn stepping out of the shadows.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Thea snapped.

“Believe it or not, I’m actually here to help you.” Malcolm responded, unfazed by Thea’s tone.

“Help us with what?” Oliver asked.

“Well, Oliver, after you cut my hand off and gave the League over to Nyssa, I’ll admit I was angry at you. Very angry.” Malcolm began. “I even considered joining HIVE to spite you. But you saved my life. Nyssa would’ve killed me and your intervention in our duel prevented that. No matter what you might think of me, I take life debts seriously. So instead of joining HIVE to spite you, I decided to join HIVE to spy for you. That’s how I know that, not even an hour after your press conference, Damien Darhk had your son kidnapped.”

“And why should we trust you?” John asked.

Before Malcolm got the chance to answer, Oliver’s phone started ringing with an incoming call from Samantha.

“Samantha, is everything okay?” Oliver asked when he answered the phone.

“Oliver, William’s been kidnapped!” Samantha spoke frantically. “I went to CCPD and they’re looking but then a CSI technician pulled me aside and said I should talk to you. Is this because...” Samantha trailed off and Oliver could hear her start sobbing. “Is this because of your press conference?”

“Samantha, I promise, I’ll do everything I can—“ Oliver began, but was cut off.

“What can you do Oliver? I know you’re running for Mayor but what could you possibly do that the entire CCPD can’t?” Samantha shouted hysterically.

“Samantha, why don’t you come to Star City?”

“No, I need to stay here until William comes back.”

“Samantha, please, he’s my son too. You have to trust me. Come to Star City as fast as you can. Let me know when you get in, my bodyguard, Mister Diggle, will come pick you up from the train station.”

Without another word, Samantha hung up and the call cut out.

“That was Samantha.” Oliver announced to the group. “Malcolm’s telling the truth.”

After that, the whole team mobilized into action. Malcolm didn’t know where Darhk was holding William, but he gave them a few possible locations. Unfortunately none of those locations panned out.

Before they could follow another lead, Oliver got a text from Samantha telling him that she was about thirty minutes away, so John left to wait for her at the train station.

Forty-five minutes later, John and Samantha arrived at Oliver’s campaign office. Oliver had changed into his civilian clothes and gone to meet them.

“Oliver, what the hell...” Samantha said in lieu of a greeting as she walked over to Oliver. “Why did you ask me to come here?”

“Because I know who kidnapped William and he’s here in Star City.” Oliver responded.

“How can you know that?” Samantha asked. “The police don’t even know who kidnapped him.”

Oliver stepped closer to Samantha and lowered his voice so no one else would hear. “Samantha, I’m the Green Arrow.”

“What?” Samantha shook her head. “No, you’re not. You can’t be.”

“Samantha, come with me.” Oliver didn’t give her a chance to protest as he immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her to the hidden elevator entrance to the Bunker that was located in his office.

“What the hell...” Samantha softly exclaimed in surprise as the elevator doors opened and she, Oliver, and John stepped inside. “Oliver, what the hell is going on?”

“I told you. I’m the Green Arrow. This is my team’s base of operations.”

The elevator traveled down until it reached the main level of the Bunker. When the doors opened, they could see Felicity, Laurel, Thea, and Malcolm gathered on the platform.

“Samantha, this is my team.” Oliver began. “You already met John Diggle. Although, he goes by Spartan out in the field.” Oliver said, indicating John. “And this is my sister Thea. She’s Speedy, the one in red.” Oliver said, gesturing towards his sister. “You already know...”

“Laurel Lance.” Samantha finished.

“Hi, Samantha.” Laurel greeted, offering a reassuring smile.

“She’s the Black Canary. And this is Felicity, we call her Overwatch.”

“You’re Felicity?” Samantha asked.

“Mm-hm.” Felicity nodded.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” Malcolm asked, feigning offense.

“Samantha, this is Malcolm Merlyn. He’s a former domestic terrorist and member of a league of professionally trained killers.” Oliver stated.

“I’m also Thea’s real father.” Malcolm added.

“ _Biological_.” Thea corrected with a scoff. “Robert was my _real_ father.”

“The point is,” Oliver interrupted their spat. “Believe it or not, Malcolm’s actually helping us find William.”

“I don’t believe it.” Samantha stated which caused Thea to chuckle.

“Speaking of,” Malcolm began. “Oliver, we’ve exhausted every lead we can think of and we still haven’t found him yet. Perhaps it’s time we employ new methods.”

“Yeah, I was just thinking that.” Oliver agreed. “Do you remember Mari McCabe?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah.” Laurel nodded. “But, Ollie, she’s all the way in Detroit.”

“That’s okay.” Oliver responded. “I’ll call her and we’ll just have to stall until she gets here. We can keep looking. Who knows? Maybe we’ll find him and we won’t even need Mari.”

“That’s very optimistic.” Malcolm observed. “One might even say naive.”

“Okay...who’s Mari?” Thea asked, ignoring Malcolm’s comment.

“She’s a hero in Detroit who calls herself Vixen.” Oliver replied. “Barry and I met her last year. She has magic.”

“Wait did you say _magic_?” Samantha asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Yes.” Oliver responded.

“And I thought meta-humans were crazy.” Samantha stated, huffing out a laugh.

“Oh that’s nothing! We have some friends who left to go time-traveling a couple months ago.” Felicity chimed in.

“Time travel?” Samantha gaped.

“Welcome to the world we live in.” John stated going to change back into his Spartan suit.

Oliver left to go change back into his suit and then call Mari.

“Hey, Mari, it’s Oliver. I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?” Oliver spoke into his phone.

“What’s up?” Mari asked.

“I’m in Star City and I could use your help.”

“I’m on my way.” Mari replied before hanging up.

When Oliver returned to the platform from the changing room, Mari was already standing in the Bunker.

“Mari!” Oliver exclaimed. “I literally just called you not even twenty seconds ago. How—“

“Well, I figured you wouldn’t call me unless it was an emergency so I asked Barry to bring me here so I could get here faster.” Mari explained. “And I gotta say, being carried by him while he’s running that fast...it’s intense.” Mari added, huffing out a breath.

“Oh I know right.” Felicity agreed. “It’s unreal.”

“Oh by the way, this place is awesome! I have _got_ to get me one of these.” Mari commented gesturing around to the Bunker.

“So Mari, this is John Diggle.” Oliver introduced them and the two shook hands. “And this is my sister, Thea.”

“Nice to meet you.” Thea greeted as she shook Mari’s hand. “Sorry it’s under such horrible circumstances.”

“You remember Felicity, you two spoke on the phone.” Oliver continued.

“Yeah, hey. Nice to officially meet you.” Mari greeted.

“Yeah you too.” Felicity agreed.

“And this is Samantha Clayton.” Oliver finished. “She’s my son William’s mother. Mari, I asked you here because William was kidnapped by a man named Damien Darhk. We’ve been looking for him, but he has magic so we were hoping that you could use your magic to help us out.”

“Definitely.” Mari agreed with a nod.

“So how exactly does this work?” Samantha asked.

“Well, the short version is that this totem,” Mari began indicating the totem hanging from her neck, “allows me to channel the spirit of any animal. Do you have something of William’s with you?”

“Yes.” Samantha nodded. “I have this.” She said, pulling a Flash action figure from her pocket. “It’s his favorite.”

Mari took the toy from Samantha’s hand. “I promise, I’ll give it back.” She told Samantha before she held it up to her nose. As she held the toy, she glanced over at Oliver. “Don’t you dare tell the Flash about this.”

Oliver held his hands up in defense. Everyone in the room watched Mari as she did her thing.

“He’s in the city.” Mari said. “I think I can find him.”

At Mari’s words, Oliver immediately sprang into action. “Okay, John and I will cover you. Laurel, get in touch with your father, we’re gonna loop in the SCPD. Felicity, I need you to sit with Samantha and work up a search profile. Thea...”

“I should probably be upstairs. Once the SCPD finds out, it’s only a matter of time before the press gets ahold of the story. I can control the spin.” Thea stated.

“Are you sure?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah, go. You got this.” She reassured him.

After that, everyone in the room went where they needed to be. Oliver and John headed out with Mari. Laurel went to change into her civilian clothes to go talk to her father, and Thea went to change out of her suit and head upstairs to the campaign office.

* * *

 

After everyone else had left to carry out their orders, Felicity went over to her computers to start working up the search profile.

“What am I supposed to do?” Malcolm asked as he was the only one that hadn’t been given an order.

“Stay here, Malcolm.” Felicity stated. “We don’t really trust you after you wanted to choose the League over your own daughter’s life.” Malcolm tried to protest but Felicity just cut him off. “And if you try to leave, I’ll know.” Felicity warned.

Malcolm walked away from the platform then, leaving Felicity and Samantha alone.

“You can come sit, if you want.” Felicity said, pulling the extra desk chair over and indicating for Samantha to sit down, which she did. “Okay so what was William wearing the last time you saw him?”

Samantha sat down in the chair that Felicity offered. “He was wearing a blue hoodie, gray corduroys, a plaid shirt, and a Diamonds baseball cap.” Samantha told Felicity. “He’s a big fan.”

“Oliver likes baseball too.” Felicity commented. “I actually have a cousin who plays for the Toronto Blue Jays. He gives me free tickets sometimes. Maybe Oliver and William can go to a game together sometime.” Felicity said, giving Samantha what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Do you have a picture of him that I can upload? It’s okay if he’s not wearing the same outfit in the picture, just whatever the most recent picture of him you have.”

“Yes.” Samantha answered, pulling out her phone. “This picture was taken two days ago after his Little League team won their first game of the season.” Samantha said, handing Felicity her phone.

Felicity took the picture and smiled slightly as she uploaded it onto her computer. “He looks like Oliver.”

“Yeah, he does.” Samantha agreed.

“Okay I sent our search profile to Captain Lance at the SCPD and I’m also gonna run facial recognition to see if he was captured on tape by any traffic or security cams in the city.”

“You can do that?” Samantha asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

“Yeah it’s pretty easy. I just input the photo into an algorithm and then the algorithm does all the work.” Felicity replied.

“Wow. You know, William loves computers. In fact, his favorite subjects in school are math and science—which, of course, aren’t really my forte so I usually have to ask my dad for help when William needs help with his homework. My dad’s an engineer. He actually worked at STAR Labs for a while, but now he works for an airline company designing airplanes. William wants to be an engineer when he grows up.” At her last words, Felicity could see tears spring to Samantha’s eyes.

“Well, I’m sure he will be. Oliver’s gonna find him. He won’t rest until he does.” Felicity responded reassuringly.

“Felicity, I’m really sorry. Oliver told me there was someone in his life. He wanted to tell you, but I wouldn’t let him. It was my fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault. You were trying to protect your son. I don’t blame you, for being wary of Oliver. I didn’t know him before the island, but just based on the stories I’ve heard and the things he’s told me, I would’ve been wary too.” Felicity responded. “I mean, I don’t have any kids myself, but I was raised by a single mother so I know how hard that can be. My mom was only twenty when she had me. She gave up everything to raise me.”

Samantha sighed. “Thank you, Felicity. I just hope I didn’t cause too much trouble in your relationship.”

“No.” Felicity shook her head. “We went through a little rough patch, but we’re back on track now.”

The two of them lapsed into silence after that while Felicity continued to run every kind of search she could think of and monitor the police scanner. A few minutes later, the whole team arrived back at the Bunker.

“What happened? Where’s William?” Samantha asked frantically as Oliver came into the room.

Laurel placed her hands on Samantha’s shoulders reassuringly. “We had a little setback, but we are not giving up.”

“Set back?! What do you mean?” Samantha asked.

Suddenly, Oliver’s phone, which had been sitting at Felicity’s station, began to ring.

“Hey. Blocked ID.” Felicity said, tossing the phone over to Oliver.

Oliver answered the call and put it on speaker.

“Mister Queen,” Damien Darhk’s voice rang out through the phone. “I’m sure by now you’ve heard that I have your son.”

“Where is he?” Oliver shouted into the phone.

“Patience, Mister Queen. I’ll return him to you, but first you have to do something for me. I want you to drop out of the race. Tonight. And you’re going to completely endorse Ruvé Adams, save us all the trouble of those pesky write-in votes. Only once you’ve done that, will I return your son to you.”

After that, the call abruptly cut out.

Oliver bowed his head for a moment. “Thea, call Alex. Tell him to set up a press conference as soon as possible.”

“Okay.” Thea responded softly with a nod before quickly changing out of her suit and going to talk to Alex.

“I am so sorry.” Mari began. “I know you brought me here to fight magic with magic.”

“Mari, this is not on you.” Oliver responded. “There is still so much that we don’t know about Darhk’s power. We don’t even know what the source of it is.”

“Wait. I get my powers from this necklace.” Mari stated. “And everyone I’ve gone up against with mystical powers has had some kind of totem like mine. What if Darhk has an object that helps him with his magic?”

“I think he does.” Quentin responded as he suddenly appeared in the room. “I walked in on him once or twice in front of this cabinet thing. Inside there’s this, I don’t know, idol?”

“Can you draw it for me?” Mari asked.

“Yeah I’ll give it a whirl.” Quentin responded and the two of them went off from the group.

“Okay,” John piped up. “What if this little art project doesn’t yield any results?” He asked.

“And what if it takes too long?” Laurel chimed in.

“They are working on a way to eventually stop Darhk. But right now, saving William is the priority. Alex should have the press conference set up by now so I’m gonna go change into my regular suit.” Oliver stated before leaving to change his clothes.

After Oliver went up to his office, Felicity switched her monitors over so the rest of the team could watch his press conference from the Bunker.

Oliver gave a short speech saying exactly what Darhk told him to say: that he was suspending his campaign and was endorsing Ruvé Adams. As he walked away, you could hear the reporters firing various questions at him, but he didn’t answer any of them. A few moments later, he returned to the Bunker through the back entrance.

“What now?” Samantha asked.

“Now all we can do is wait and see if Darhk upholds his end of the bargain.” Oliver responded.

Just then, Mari entered the Bunker. “I’ve got something.” She stated leading them all over to the round table. “I emailed Captain Lance’s drawing of Darhk’s idol to my friend at Detroit University.”

“And did he recognize it?” Thea asked.

“It’s a Kushi idol.” Mari responded. “Very rare. Very powerful. But it’s power requires a constant connection to one of the Earth’s lay lines.”

“I never thought I’d say this, but huh?” Felicity asked.

“Think Wi-Fi for magic and the idol is his internet connection.” Mari answered. “If Professor Macalester’s theory is correct and this map is accurate...”

“Then Darhk must be holed up near one of these lay lines in order for him to get the strongest signal.” John concluded.

“I’ll start cross-referencing all the locations we’ve encountered Darhk.” Felicity said before heading over to her station.

“I don’t understand!” Samantha exclaimed. “You pulled out of the race why isn’t this man giving me my son back?!”

“We will get William back and everything will be fine.” Oliver responded.

“You keep saying that but it hasn’t been so far!” Samantha yelled.

Felicity didn’t hear Oliver respond, but did see him walk away. She considered following him, but knew that she was needed at her station.

After several minutes of cross-referencing Felicity thought she finally got something so she let Thea know to have everyone gather on the platform.

“What did you find?” Oliver asked.

“Darhk moves his idol around which makes sense but that just makes him harder to track.” Felicity replied. “But after referencing a whole lot of satellite feed, thermal-imaging data, and the lay line map, I think Darhk is located in a house in Skywoods.” Felicity concluded.

Before Oliver could respond, his phone rang with the same blocked number as before.

“Hello?” Oliver said into his phone.

Felicity couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but Oliver hung up only a few seconds later.

“Darhk says he’s gonna release William three hours from now at Nelson Plaza.”

“There are no guarantees with Damien Darhk. You can’t be sure he’ll keep his word.” Malcolm chimed in. “Felicity found Darhk’s location which means you have the chance to take him out once and for all.”

“But if we go after him, he could kill William!” Thea argued.

“He won’t.” Malcolm responded. “Darhk has a daughter himself. He wouldn’t harm an innocent child.”

Thea just scoffed in response and Oliver turned to Samantha.

“What do you think?” Oliver asked.

“This son of a bitch kidnapped my son. Take him out.” Samantha responded fiercely.

Oliver nodded. “Malcolm, stay here. Everyone else, suit up.” He instructed before walking off the platform to change his clothes as the rest of the team followed.

Malcolm stood behind Felicity on the platform while Samantha went to sit down in the chair next to her.

Just a few minutes later, Felicity could hear the team making their way out of the Bunker through the garage and she turned to her computers to monitor them.

Felicity, Samantha, and Malcolm watched as the team—including Mari—made their way to Skywoods. Quentin had gone to the precinct to mobilize the SCPD.

Unfortunately, there were no cameras Felicity could tap into to watch what was going on so all they could do in the Bunker was listen to what was happening through audio.

“Remind me to install body cams in all their suits.” Felicity muttered aloud to herself.

Mostly, all they could hear was the sound of fighting. They briefly heard Darhk’s voice but then the sound became garbled.

Luckily, the next thing they heard was the sound of police sirens and Oliver announcing, “We got ‘em!”

“Darhk or William?” Felicity asked.

“Both.” Oliver responded. “We’re all fine. No one’s hurt. Lance took William back to the police station. We’re on our way back to the Bunker. Green Arrow out.” Oliver informed them before the comm cut out.

Next to her, Felicity heard Samantha let out a cry of relief and Felicity placed her hand on Samantha’s shoulder and smiled. “It sounds like William’s gonna be waiting for you at the police station. You should probably head over there.” Felicity told her.

Samantha nodded and turned to Felicity. “Thank you, Felicity.”

“Oh I didn’t do anything. It was Oliver.” Felicity responded.

Samantha got up from her chair and started to walk towards the elevator, but stopped in front of Malcolm first.

“I don’t know you and they don’t seem to trust you but...you helped get my son back so thank you.” Samantha stated.

Malcolm simply nodded wordlessly in response and then Samantha slipped past him and headed upstairs in the elevator.

After Samantha was gone, Felicity turned to look at Malcolm. “So what’s up, Malcolm? Why’d you help us?”

“I already explained this. I owe Oliver a debt.” Malcolm replied.

“Yeah, but it’s more than that. There are other ways you could repay that debt without going up against Damien Darhk.”

“Perhaps, after all these years, I’ve learned not to underestimate Oliver.”

“I thought you’d already learned that lesson when you helped Oliver take down Ra’s?” Felicity questioned. “So what’s the real reason? Oh wait, let me guess: Thea. You know, after what you pulled, making her kill Sara, she’ll never forgive you for that.”

“Perhaps not, but I can still try.” Malcolm responded simply.

“Why does it matter so much to you if Thea likes you or not?” Felicity couldn’t help but ask.

“When you have children of your own, you’ll understand.” Malcolm responded before disappearing into the shadows.

The team returned a few moments later and Oliver quickly changed out of his suit and headed to the police station.

“Mari, we cant thank you enough for coming.” Laurel stated after they’d all changed back into their regular clothes.

“Yeah, seriously, we wouldn’t’ve been able to do it without you.” Thea added.

“Well, it was my pleasure.” Mari responded. “I hope the next time we see each other, it’s under better circumstances.”

Just then, Felicity received a text from Oliver that William was back safe and sound and he wanted to talk to her at the loft.

“Hey guys, I’m gonna head home, but I’ll see you later.” Felicity announced before leaving the Bunker.

When Felicity arrived at the loft, she found Oliver sitting at the kitchen table deep in thought.

“Hey.” Felicity greeted him softly as she positioned her chair next to the table.

“Hey.” Oliver responded. “I was just thinking about what to do about William now.”

“Yeah?”

Oliver nodded. “John thinks that I should keep him close. He says that’s how he keeps Sara safe, because he always knows where she is. But Mari told me that I should send him away so that he can have a normal life. I’m not really sure what to do. What do _you_ think?”

Felicity huffed our a breath before responding. “Well, I think this is a conversation you should be having with Samantha.”

“And I will.” Oliver responded. “But you’re my fiancé so I wanted to hear your opinion...after all, marriage is about _inclusion_.”

“Did you just use my own words against me?”

“Did it work?” Oliver asked, cracking a small smile.

There was a brief pause before Felicity begrudgingly answered, “Yes.” She sighed before continuing. “If you really want to know what I think...well, with all due respect to Mari; she makes a valid point, but normal is relative. When I was a kid, normal for me was sharing a twin bed with my mother in our 350 square foot studio apartment. Normal was taking public transit to school every day while my mom worked three jobs to make ends meet. And now my normal is being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and fighting crime at night. When you were a kid, normal was living in a castle and having more money than you could ever possibly spend in ten lifetimes.

“Look, even if you hadn’t gone on the Gambit and become the Green Arrow, William was never gonna have a ‘normal’ life. He was conceived during a drunken one-night-stand by two people who were barely even _friends_ at the time and definitely would’ve never gotten married. So if you _really_ want to know what I think...I agree with John. I think the best thing you can do for him is keep him close. And yeah, I know keeping him close means that he could be put in danger again, but you’ll save him. You saved him tonight and you even took Darhk down to boot. That’s gotta count for something.”

“But what if I can’t save him?” Oliver responded. “What if he gets kidnapped again and I’m not there?”

“Okay, let me ask you something...what about me? Assuming we ever actually find the time to get married, we get married and then you probably want to have kids right?”

“Uh...well, yeah. I mean, I was hoping that maybe...we would.” Oliver responded.

“Okay So then what’s gonna happen when I get pregnant? Were you planning on just sending me away and making me just sit around in some cabin somewhere while you’re out risking your life fighting for the city until the baby’s born? Because, I can tell you right now, that’s definitely not happening. But then once the baby’s born...you just wanna send them away and be raised by a nanny and never get to see them until they’re fully grown?”

“No, of course not.” Oliver responded.

“Okay, well, this situation with William isn’t any different. You can either keep him in your life and yeah, you’d risk him getting put in danger again, but _you can protect him_. _Or_ , you send him away and, yes he’d probably be safer, but you wouldn’t get to have any relationship with him until he’s grown up. And by that time, he might resent you so much for not being in his life that he won’t _want_ to have a relationship with you. Take it from someone who grew up without her father: my father had the chance to either go to prison or go on the run. And yeah, him being in prison wouldn’t have been ideal, but only seeing him from behind bars would’ve been better than the alternative because at least he would’ve been in my life.

“Alright, that’s all I got. You should go talk to Samantha and see what she thinks.” Felicity concluded, pulling away from the table.

Wordlessly, Oliver nodded and stood up from the table. He grabbed his car keys and his cell phone and then headed out the door.

* * *

 

After his talk with Felicity, he texted Samantha to meet him at his (now empty) campaign office.

When he arrived, he found Samantha and William waiting for him in his office.

He immediately wrapped his son up in—another—hug before squatting down to look in his eyes.

“Hey buddy, I need to talk to your mom for a bit. Why don’t you go hang out with Thea, okay?”

William nodded and then Oliver led him out into the main part of the office where Thea was cleaning out her desk.

“Hey, Thea, would you mind watching William for a bit while Samantha and I talk?” Oliver asked.

“Of course!” Thea responded enthusiastically with a smile. “I’ve been waiting for the chance to spend some time with my nephew.”

Oliver left William in Thea’s hands before heading back into his office.

“So I’ve been thinking about what to do next...” Oliver began, but he was interrupted by Samantha.

“Me too.” Samantha replied.

“Okay...you first.” Oliver encouraged.

“Well, to be honest, I really wasn’t sure what to do so I asked William what he wanted to do.” Samantha began.

“And?”

“And William wants to move here to Star City.” Samantha stated.

“What?” Oliver asked, genuinely shocked.

“Yeah.” Samantha nodded. “He knows that it would mean having to leave all his friends in Central City, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He wants to live here to be close to you.”

“But he was just kidnapped!” Oliver exclaimed.

“Yeah I know. But he says that living here will make it easier for you to protect him...because he knows you’re the Green Arrow. I didn’t tell him. I don’t know how but...he figured it out on his own. His dad is a superhero so he thinks being here means he’ll never be in danger again.”

“Well, he has a _very_ high opinion of me. Probably _too_ high.”

“Well, yeah, he’s a kid. If it makes you feel any better he thinks that I’m a superhero just like the Flash because I put bad guys in jail. Im just a paralegal, all I do is type up documents.” Samantha responded.

“I thought you were going to law school?” Oliver couldn’t help but ask because, when he knew her in college, she was definitely planning on going to Harvard Law School.

“Yeah I was, but then I got pregnant so my priorities changed. I was able to finish my bachelor’s but I decided to opt out of law school. Until recently...I’ve actually been thinking about going back to school and getting my law degree.”

“That’s amazing! You definitely should.” Oliver responded. “But speaking of...you don’t have to move here. I know William wants to, but I don’t want you to have to completely uproot your life and move halfway across the country.”

“Actually,” Samantha began. “I got laid off from my job last week. Budget cuts.” She explained.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Oliver responded.

Samantha shrugged. “To be honest, even before all this happened, I was thinking of maybe moving anyway. Getting a fresh start. I was gonna wait until the end of the school year, but then this happened, and then William said he wanted to move here so I thought...”

“Wait.” Oliver interjected. “You’re actually gonna move here?”

“The cost of living is cheaper here, I heard your city council just _increased_ the budget for the DA’s office, SCU’s law program is actually way better than CCU’s. Also, William wants to live here. I really have no reason _not_ to. My parents and my sister are still in Central City, but I can always go visit them.”

“Samantha, as much as I would love to have William here, you really don’t have to...”

“I want to.” Samantha stated. “We’re in each other’s lives, Oliver. That’s never gonna change. And William understands that we’ll never be a couple. But that doesn’t mean that we have to force him to only see one of us part of the year because we live 600 miles away. If I lived here, we could work out a custody arrangement where he could live with both of us and not have to choose. Trust me, I work in a law office, I know how messy custody arrangements can get when the parents live far apart. Us moving to Star City is the best thing we could do.”

Oliver couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. Felicity was right. He could never imagine sending William away and possibly never seeing him again.

“Thank you, Samantha.” Oliver stated.

After that, Oliver and Samantha told William what they decided—to his absolute delight (he didn’t even seem to mind that he’d have to start at a new school in the middle of the year)—and then Oliver went home to tell Felicity the good news.

Of course there was a risk with keeping William close, but the alternative was unthinkable.


	10. Chapter 10

“Well, I have some bad news.” Laurel announced as she walked into the Bunker.

“What?” Oliver, Felicity, Thea, and John all responded simultaneously.

“The DA isn’t pressing charges against Darhk and he’s being released.” Laurel answered.

“What?!” Everyone else exclaimed simultaneously.

“Why?” Oliver added.

“Because of the absolutely zero physical evidence. The ghosts that kidnapped William didn’t leave any DNA or any other evidence and they used their cyanide escape plans so they can’t be questioned.” Laurel explained.

“But William’s a witness and what about Darhk’s daughter?.” Oliver argued.

“There’s no evidence that Darhk’s daughter was ever there. Also, Darhk isn’t even Darhk according to the DNA samples taken from the scene. When they ran his DNA it came back as Kenneth Bender and the house that William was found at is owned by Kenneth Bender so of course his DNA would be all over the place.” Laurel explained.

“But William was questioned and he told Lance everything that happened.” Oliver stated.

“The DA can’t charge someone with a crime based on nothing but the uncorroborated testimony of one ten year old boy.” Laurel responded. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. Darhk’s gonna walk free.”

“So then what do we do now?” Thea asked.

“We have the pieces of Darhk’s idol. Without that, he has no power.” Oliver responded. “Now, we just have to figure out a way to get him behind bars for good.”

“How do we even do that?” John asked.

Oliver sighed. “I don’t know. But in the meantime...there are still other criminals in this city. We’re not giving up on Darhk, but we can’t just sit around and do nothing else until he’s in prison.”

“Oliver’s right.” Felicity agreed. “Darhk’s not the only bad guy in this city.”

After that, things pretty much went back to normal. HIVE continued to do what HIVE did, Darhk was still at large, and the team continued going out every night and going about business as usual.

Things started to become routine. Since Oliver didn’t have his campaign to work on anymore, he helped Samantha and William move to Star City and he and Samantha began the process of arranging a custody agreement. Felicity continued with her rehab and trying to get a presentation for the board ready because the implant was working. Laurel was still trying to convince the DA to press charges against Darhk, but she wasn’t making much progress because of the “law’s pesky need for evidence” as Laurel put it. Malcolm continued to work undercover in HIVE and help the team as much as he could, but there was only so much he could do if he wanted to keep his cover so the team wasn’t really much closer to taking Darhk down.

Ten days after William’s kidnapping, he and Samantha were fully settled in Star City and William had started at his new school—just in time for spring break! Samantha had gotten a job as a paralegal in the DA’s office and she had also registered for law school and would start during the summer semester. As for Felicity, after ten days of physical therapy, she was officially mobile again! She still struggled to walk without assistance and she still used her chair most of the time, but she was up and using crutches for at least three hours everyday. (Paul had recommended she use a walker, but she refused, not wanting to feel like an eighty year old lady).

Ten days after that, Felicity was back to one hundred percent. She was no longer using her wheelchair and could walk completely without assistance. Curtis was truly a miracle worker! Oliver and Samantha’s custody agreement had been finalized. They decided to use mediation to work out the agreement to keep the whole thing out of the media. William had already gotten enough media attention after Oliver’s press conference; Oliver and Samantha wanted to keep William out of the media as much as possible. The agreement they came to was a pretty simple one and one that worked well for all of them: Samantha had managed to find an apartment not far from the loft so William was able to switch between them without having to change schools. He would spend one month with Samantha, while seeing Oliver every other Wednesday night and alternating weekends and then the next month he’d switch. They also agreed to alternate holidays so this year, William would spend Thanksgiving with Oliver and Christmas with Samantha and the next year he’d switch...and so on. Oliver and Samantha had even talked to William to get his opinion. This was the best arrangement they could come up with and William seemed to be happy about it.

During all this time, Oliver had wanted Felicity to meet William and get to know him, but Felicity insisted that she didn’t want to disrupt him getting settled in a new city and a new school. In truth, she was just anxious about meeting him. She had never been very good with kids. The only kid she ever had any extended interaction with was Baby Sara and even then, John and Lyla were always around to take care of her if she got fussy or anything. Felicity knew Oliver wanted kids but, despite her best efforts, she wasn’t entirely sure she did.

Still, it wasn’t something that she had to worry about anytime soon.

Nearly, a month after William’s kidnapping, the team still wasn’t much closer to taking down HIVE, but now they had a different problem to worry about. An old, familiar face was back in town.

Felicity sat at her station down in the Bunker when her phone began to ring with an incoming call from Lance. She answered and put the call on speaker. “Hey, Quentin, what’s up?”

“I just got a call from one of my officers. He discovered two bodies impaled with heart-shaped arrows.” Lance replied.

“Wait, heart-shaped arrows? Like Cupid?” Felicity asked.

“I thought she was in custody at ARGUS?” Oliver asked John.

“Yeah me too.” John replied. “I’ll call Lyla.” He said before pulling out his phone and walking away.

“Anyway, I’m on my way to the Bunker now so you can see for yourself.” Lance stated.

“Alright, well, we’re all here so we’ll see you soon.” Felicity replied.

Lance hung up after that and then, shortly after, John returned.

“So it turns out that Waller was serious about prisoners working off their sentences through Task Force X. Cupid’s out.” John informed them.

“Isn’t it great that Amanda Waller can still be a pain in the ass even from beyond the grave?” Thea commented dryly.

“She’s changed up her MO, though.” Lance said as he came down the stairs, having entered through the back entrance. “There was a note left at the scene that just said ‘love is dead’.” Lance said as he set the file of the crime scene down on the round table.

“What the hell does that mean?” Felicity questioned.

“What about her victims?” Oliver asked Lance.

“Crime techs are still running prints.” Lance answered.

“Wait seriously, none of you know who these two are?” Thea asked and the rest of them just stared at her blankly. “Am I the only one who reads gossip magazines?”

“Yes.” Felicity responded. “Because they’re trash and I’ve told you a million times that you shouldn’t read them.”

Ignoring Felicity’s comment, Oliver turned to his sister. “You know who they are?”

“Of course! It’s Blannon!” Thea answered as if it was so obvious. “They’re only Star City’s second-most high profile couple. After Olicity of course.” Thea remarked with a cheeky smile.

“What?” Oliver asked.

“Okay I’m just gonna pretend you didn’t say that...” Felicity began. “Why would Cupid want to off the city’s most high-profile couple?”

“Second-most.” Thea interjected.

“Whatever.” Felicity shook her head.

“Well, if we figure that out, we’ll be able to figure out her next target.” Oliver answered Felicity’s earlier question.

“I might have a theory about that, actually.” John interjected.

“Really? What is it?” Oliver asked.

“Last year, during Lyla and I’s mission with the squad, when we were supposed to be on our honeymoon, Cupid and Deadshot were with us. Cupid kind of...fell for Deadshot.” John told them.

“Seriously?” Thea interjected,

“When he died she took it pretty hard.” John added.

“So you think she’s killing happy couples because a guy she knew for all of five minutes blew himself up?” Lance asked.

“Well, she _is_ crazy.” Thea remarked.

“But why Blaine and Shannon?” Laurel asked. “Aside from them being a high-profile couple, what was so special about them?”

“They were just about to get married.” Thea answered. “Their wedding was set for Saturday.”

“A happy couple about to vow to spend the rest of their lives together.” Laurel explained. “If she really did love Lawton and he died...”

“Okay well it’s definitely a good theory, so how do we figure out who she might be going after next?” Laurel asked.

“Are there any other celebrity couples in the city who are about to get married?” Oliver asked Thea.

“Seriously?” Thea raised her eyebrows at him. “ _You_.” Thea stated gesturing between him and Felicity.

Oliver and Felicity exchanged a look before turning back to Thea. “Good point.”

“Do you ever think there’ll be a time when there are no psychopaths trying to kill us?” Felicity asked rhetorically.

“So what do we do, just wait around for Cupid to attack us?” Oliver asked. “What if we’re not even next on her list? We’re not the only engaged couple in the city.”

“Well, the newspaper has a section for engagement announcements so I can compile a list based on that, but it might not be totally complete because not everyone announces their engagement to the public.” Felicity stated.

“Just do the best you can.” Oliver told her. “In the meantime, maybe the rest of you can hit the streets and try to find out where Cutter’s holed up. Maybe we can get to her before she can get to her next victims.”

John, Thea, and Laurel nodded before going to change into their suits and head out.

“I’ll go back to the precinct, see if my detectives have found anything.” Lance said before leaving through the elevator.

After everyone else was gone, Oliver went to stand by Felicity on the platform. “Found anything yet?”

“In the past year, there have been 152 engagement announcements published in the Star City Gazette. Of those114 have since gotten married leaving thirty-eight still engaged. I included us in that, by the way. But, like I said, those are just the couples that have publicly announced their engagements. There could still be other couples who never have. So I guess it just depends on how thorough Cupid is.” Felicity explained.

“Well, the first couple, Blaine and Shannon, were local celebrities right, according to Thea?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah, Blaine Richards and Shannon Cooper. Shannon grew up here in Star City. Her father’s a hedge fund manager. And Blaine didn’t grow up here, but he moved here a few years ago to work at...” Felicity trailed off as she pulled up some more information about Blaine, “oh, the same hedge fund that Shannon’s father manages.”

“Wait did you say Shannon _Cooper_?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah.” Felicity nodded. “Why?”

“Is her father Warren Cooper?”

Felicity typed something on her keyboard, pulling up Shannon’s background information. “Yes.” She confirmed.

“Warren Cooper was a friend of my father’s.” Oliver stated.

“Well, according to this, she went to the same private school you did, but she was born in 1988 so she would’ve been a few years behind you.”

“So we think that Cupid chose them because they were a high-profile couple.” Oliver began, getting the conversation back on track.

“It makes sense, in a way. She left that note at the scene saying ‘love is dead’ so targeting celebrity couples would give her crusade or whatever you want to call it more attention.”

“So of those thirty-eight couples, are any of them really high-profile?” Oliver asked.

“Well, besides us, apparently, there’s Allison Lee and Robert Joyce.” Felicity answered.

“I knew them.” Oliver responded. “They were both a year below me in school, but Robbie and I played lacrosse together. They were kind of high school sweethearts, but they always said they wanted to wait to get married until they were both out of college and had steady jobs.”

“Good for them.” Felicity interjected. “That’s smart. Responsible.”

“They could be Cupid’s next targets.” Oliver theorized.

“Actually, they can’t be.” Felicity responded. “According to the Star City Sun, they’re out of town. On some pre-wedding honeymoon. There are paparazzi pictures of them on a beach in the Bahamas. So I guess that just leaves us.”

“So I say again: what are we supposed to do, just sit around and wait for Cupid to attack us?” Oliver repeated his inquiry from before.

“Well, maybe there’s a way we can lure her out or something.” Felicity suggested.

“How?” Oliver asked.

Felicity pondered that for a moment before speaking. “Thea said that Blaine and Shannon were getting married on Saturday and that that could be why Cupid targeted them.”

“Yeah? I guess.”

“Well, we haven’t set a date for our wedding yet.”

“Yeah that’s because we’ve been too busy.” Oliver responded.

“What I’m saying is that maybe if we set a date for sometime really soon, maybe that will draw Cupid out.”

“That could work.” Oliver agreed.

Just then, Thea appeared in the Bunker, still dressed in her Speedy suit.

“Hey so we didn’t find Cutter while patrolling, but I think I might’ve found something else.” Thea announced as she made her way onto the platform.

“What is it?” Oliver asked.

“Well, it turns out Blaine and Shannon had secretly eloped. The news was just leaked only a couple hours before their bodies were found. Also, another couple said they were threatened by Cupid. Jacob Jenkins and Joshua Doyle. They’re not really celebrities or anything...at least not until recently. Jacob is a triple amputee and a war hero, Josh works with the VA helping veterans get back on their feet. Jacob was marginalized for being publicly gay in the military. You know how the media eats that kind of stuff up. Anyway, apparently Cupid attacked their very small and private wedding ceremony. No one got hurt, but she was nowhere to be found when the cops showed up.”

“So it might not just be enough to set a date.” Felicity stated.

“What?” Thea asked.

“We were thinking of luring Cupid into a trap. We figured, since Blaine and Shannon were just about to get married that, if we set a date for our wedding and made it known to the public, she would come after us. But if Blaine and Shannon had a secret wedding before they died and Jacob and Josh were having a secret wedding when they were attacked then I guess we need to get married.” Felicity turned to look at Oliver as she said those last words.

“You want to hold a fake wedding ceremony to entrap Cupid?” Oliver asked.

“It doesn’t have to be fake. I mean, we’re planning on getting married anyway, but we haven’t been able to because of everything else going on. This might be our opportunity to actually get married. _And_ we could also capture Cutter to boot. Kill two birds with one stone. Win-win.”

“There is nothing the public loves more than a secret elopement.” Thea interjected. “You already have a venue, right? I’m sure Laurel knows a judge or something that could come and perform the ceremony. And I can leak the news to all the gossip websites. And as for Cupid, the team and I can be there to take her down when she shows up. Of course, that means I won’t be able to be the maid of honor...” Thea trailed off with a pout.

“Did I ever ask you to be my maid of honor?” Felicity asked, tilting her head. “Because I don’t think I did.”

“Well, I asked myself.” Thea stated. “I mean, who else would you have chosen?” Felicity didn’t reply. “That’s what I thought. But that’s okay because I can still throw you a killer bachelorette party.”

“Yeah we won’t have time for that.” Oliver stated. “We need this to happen as quickly as possible so Carrie Cutter doesn’t have time to find other victims.”

“Why you always gotta ruin my fun?” Thea pouted. “I’ll go call John and Laurel.” She stated before promptly leaving.

“So I guess we’re getting married.” Felicity stated, clapping her hands together, after Thea was gone.

“I guess we are.” Oliver responded.

“Don’t be getting cold feet on me now.” Felicity warned.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Oliver responded with a half-smile. “Don’t you get cold feet either.”

“Me? Never!” Felicity gasped melodramatically. “You can feel my feet, they’re toasty warm!” Felicity said as she lifted her bare feet up and wiggled her toes.

Oliver chuckled before grabbing her foot and placing a soft kiss on the side of her big toe.

“Well, I guess, since this is our wedding day, I should probably go since we’re not supposed to see each other.” Oliver stated.

“But we’ve already seen each other. We’ve been seeing each other all day. You can’t take that back.” Felicity pointed out.

“We’ll just pretend.” Oliver shrugged with a sly smile. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Oliver left the Bunker after that and Felicity decided that she should probably go herself to get ready.

* * *

 

Felicity sat on the couch in the loft waiting for Thea to arrive while she coordinated with the team on tactics to take down Cupid. Laurel found a judge that agreed to perform the ceremony—and it would be one hundred percent legally binding (they were _really_ getting married!!). Felicity had also called her mom and Quentin, one, because they needed witnesses and two, because Felicity knew her mom would kill her if she got married without her mom there.

Everything was set. They would meet at the venue at nine. John and Laurel would be waiting out of sight in their suits while Thea, Quentin, and Donna would be there as witnesses.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Felicity looked up to see Thea walking through the door carrying two garment bags.

“Aren’t you glad that I convinced you to get your dress early?” Thea commented as she walked over to the couch.

“You picked up my dress?”

“Yep. And I also took the liberty of getting myself a bridesmaid dress.” Thea responded.

Felicity rolled her eyes and chuckled before grabbing the garment bag that contained her dress and opened it slightly to look at it. When she and Oliver had gotten engaged, Felicity had imagined having a low key ceremony; she wasn’t even planning on getting a big white dress. But Thea had insisted that, if they were going to get married, they should go big or go home. So Felicity had allowed Thea to drag her to a wedding dress boutique and try on all sorts of different dresses. Felicity rolled her eyes at the whole thing at first...until she found the dress currently awaiting her in this garment bag. The dress was figure-hugging with lace, an open back and a deep plunge neckline. Felicity had never been the type of girl to dream of her wedding day, but when she tried on that dress for the first time, she could actually see herself wearing it down the aisle.

“Ollie is gonna lose it when he sees you in that dress!” Thea exclaimed.

“You think?” Felicity blushed, biting down on her lower lip.

“Are you kidding me? If he doesn’t pass out when he sees you then I’ll start to think that he’s actually gay.” Thea replied.

Felicity laughed and rolled her eyes. “So what time is it?” Felicity asked, changing the subject.

Thea pulled out her phone to check the time. “8:45.” She replied. “The venue is a little over ten minutes away so we can leave whenever you’re ready.”

Felicity let out a slightly shaky breath. “Is it crazy that I’m nervous? I mean, the threat of Crazy Cutter notwithstanding, I just feel kinda anxious.”

“Anxious excited? Because I think that’s normal when you’re about to get married. I mean, in less than an hour, Ollie’s gonna be your husband. That’s huge! And also, we’ll officially be sisters. Oh, I always wanted a big sister.”

Felicity smiled. “Well, I always wanted a little sister.” Felicity said as she wrapped Thea up in a hug.

They pulled away after a few moments and then Felicity huffed out a breath. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

The two ladies grabbed their garment bags, along with Felicity’s makeup bag, and then headed out the front door.

They arrived at the venue a few minutes before nine and headed up to the dressing room adjacent to the auditorium where they would change into their dresses.

Felicity’s mom was already waiting for them when they arrived. She was wearing a dark green dress covered in beaded fringe.

When Felicity and Thea walked in the room, Donna immediately ran up to Felicity and wrapped her up in a bone-crushing hug.

“Mom–can’t breathe—“ Felicity wheezed as she tried to pull her mom away from her.

“Oh I’m sorry baby doll.” She said as she pulled away. “I’m just so excited! I can’t believe my baby girl is getting married!”

“Mom, did Quentin explain the situation to you?” Felicity asked.

“No. What situation?” Her mom replied, clearly beginning to worry.

“Mom, it’s no big deal, but the SCPD is tracking someone right now whose killing happy couples on their wedding days. So Oliver and I offered to have this ceremony to lure her out into the open so she could be arrested.” Felicity explained.

“Wait what?” Donna asked, beginning to hyperventilate. Unfortunately for Quentin, he chose that exact moment to walk into the room. “You’re using my baby girl as bait for a serial killer!” She screeched at Quentin.

“Wha—you told her?” Quentin exclaimed.

“I think the more important question is...why didn’t you?” Felicity responded.

“I didn’t want to worry her.” Quentin replied.

“Oh. Right. That makes sense.”

“Wh—why are you letting them do this?!” Donna breathed out.

“We volunteered, Mom. No one is making us do anything. We’re completely safe. There’s gonna be cops waiting to arrest Cupid when she gets here. Oliver has Kevlar in his tux and Quentin’s here. We’ll all be completely safe. I promise.” Felicity grabbed her mom’s hands and lightly squeezed them, giving her mom a reassuring smile.

“I...uh...okay.” Donna nodded. “I believe you.”

“Good. Now you gotta help me get ready. The judge is gonna be here soon.” Felicity said to her mom.

“Yeah, I just need to borrow Thea for a quick second.” Quentin interjected.

“Yeah sure thing.” Thea replied.

“Where are you going?” Donna asked.

“Uh Oliver’s just feeling a little anxious so I thought talking to Thea might help.” Quentin responded.

“He better not be getting cold feet.” Donna commented.

“Definitely not.” Thea stated, reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’ll give ‘im a good smack if he is.” Thea winked before exiting the room with Quentin.

After Thea and Quentin left the room, Felicity sat down and let her mom do her hair and makeup. While her mom was making her all pretty, Felicity pretty much sat there quietly while letting her mom ramble on about how happy she was and how she’s always been waiting for this day.

Once her hair and makeup were done, Felicity went to put on her dress which fit her like a glove. She remembered the proportions being slightly off when she initially tried it on at the shop, but it had been altered to fit her measurements since then and now it hugged her body perfectly.

Thea returned while Felicity was changing into her dress and quickly put her own dress and makeup on.

After Felicity was in her dress (and her mom got the chance to look at her because she hadn’t seen Felicity in the dress yet) Felicity hooked her arm through her mother’s and grabbed the bouquet her mother got her.

“Ready?” Thea asked.

“Yes.” Felicity stated, nodding her head.

Thea opened the door and led them towards the main auditorium. Before they went inside, Thea pulled out her phone and stood next to Felicity so they could get a selfie.

“What was that for?” Felicity asked.

“I’m gonna post it on my Instagram so everyone knows Olicity is getting married.” Thea replied.

“I thought you were just going to subtly spread the word on gossip sites.”

“Yeah I was, but then I decided go big or go home.” Thea shrugged. “Okay it’s time.” Thea said as she put her phone away and opened the door. Thea walked in first with Felicity and Donna following closely behind.

When Felicity walked in, she noticed the whole room was decorated with several bouquets of flowers and twinkly lights handing from the walls. Quentin was standing in front of one of the chairs in the front row and Oliver and the judge were standing up at the altar.

Thea went to take her place on the opposite side of the aisle from where Quentin was while Felicity and her mom made their way down. Felicity’s eyes locked with Oliver’s as she made her way to him and she blushed.

Felicity was never the type of girl to dream about her wedding day, but if she had, this was exactly what she would’ve imagined. Small and intimate—Felicity always hated being the center of attention. And, of course, there’s no other man in the world that she would want waiting for her at the altar.

When she and her mom reached the end, Oliver stepped down and reached out his hand. Felicity’s mom placed a kiss on her cheek before going to stand next to Quentin.

Felicity grabbed Oliver’s hand and let him lead her up the steps.

“You look perfect.” Oliver whispered to her as they approached the judge.

Felicity couldn’t help the blush that spread across her face and she bit down on her lower lip. “Thank you.”

“Let me just say, that I am honored to be here performing this ceremony.” The judge, a petite female with short brown hair, spoke as Oliver and Felicity stood across from each other with joined hands. “Now, I know that you two have written your own vows so, without further adieu, ladies first.” The judge looked over at Felicity indicating for her to begin.

Felicity took a deep breath before speaking. “Right. Okay. Um, well, you know that I’ve never really had much luck with men. After my dad left I always thought that I was unloveable...but then I met you. You helped me realize that I am lovable and I deserve to be loved. You helped me become something that I didn’t even know I was capable of being. You helped me become the very best version of myself. You always say that I saved you, but the truth is, you saved me too. I know that we’ve been through a lot, but I also know that, no matter what life throws at us, our love is strong enough to withstand anything.” Felicity turned to look at the judge. “Okay, that’s all I’ve got. I hope it was good enough.”

“It was perfect.” Oliver responded softly with a smile.

“Okay, Mister Queen, your turn.” The judge said, turning towards Oliver and nodding her head once.

“Felicity, before I met you I had a plan,” Oliver began, “I had a way that I was gonna be. But then you walked into my life, or I guess, I showed up at your cubicle and you changed everything. I was so lost in darkness but with your kindness and compassion and generosity and wit and intelligence...and I could go on forever...” Oliver rambled and Felicity couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips. “You brought me into the light.” Oliver continued. “After everything I’ve been through, I didn’t think I deserved to be loved, but because of you, I now know that I do. I am a better human being because I’ve loved you and been loved by you. You are my always and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Okay, now for the official part.” The judge began. “Felicity Smoak, do you take Oliver Queen to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold in sickness and in health til death do you part?”

“I do.” Felicity replied.

The judge turned to Oliver. “Oliver Queen, do you take Felicity Smoak to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold in sickness and in health til death do you part?”

“I do.” Oliver replied.

“Well, then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You can kiss now.”

Oliver cupped his hands around Felicity’s face and pressed his lips to hers as Felicity wrapped her arms around his waist and returned his kiss.

Unfortunately, their kiss was cut short as the sound of an arrow flying through the air startled them back to reality.

“Hello lovers.” Cupid’s voice rang out.

Oliver stepped forward so that Felicity was standing slightly behind him and Felicity also saw Quentin move to stand in front of her mother while placing his hand on his gun, ready to pull it out of his holster.

“Sorry to interrupt, but you see, this is all wrong.” Cutter continued. “You can’t love each other because love is weakness. Love is a bullet in the brain. Or an arrow to the heart.” Cupid let out a laugh before shooting another arrow right at Oliver’s chest. Oliver went down, but Felicity knew not to worry because his tuxedo was lined with Kevlar.

Suddenly, Spartan and Black Canary entered the room and began taking shots at Cupid. Quentin pulled out his gun, but otherwise let John and Laurel take care of things and stayed beck to protect Donna.

Not long after Oliver was shot, he got back up and pulled the arrow out of his chest.

It didn’t take long for John and Laurel to disarm Cupid long enough for Quentin to put her in handcuffs and read her her rights.

After Cupid was in cuffs, Quentin went on his radio to tell his men that she was detained. Soon, several officers of the SCPD entered the room to investigate the crime scene and escort Cutter out. As they entered, Felicity could see several cameras flashing just outside the doors.

One detective came around to take all of their statements, but just as they were about to leave, the judge came to them holding a piece of paper.

“I know that you just went through a lot so I’m sorry to do this to you, but if you want this marriage to actually be legally binding, you’ll need to sign the marriage certificate. Again, I’m really sorry about this...”

“No, it’s okay.” Oliver responded.

Oliver took the paper and pen from the judge and signed the sheet on his designated line before handing it to Felicity to sign and then off to Quentin and Donna to sign as witnesses. Quentin was the last to sign and he handed it back to the judge for her to sign as the officiate. “I will get this filed first thing tomorrow morning. Congratulations you guys.” The judge said before she walked out the room, having already been cleared to leave by the detective.

“Hey guys,” Thea piped up, “the press are itching for a statement. I can tell them to get lost if you want.”

“No that’s okay.” Oliver replied. “If it’s okay with you?” He asked turning to Felicity.

“Sure, might as well.” Felicity shrugged.

“Well, alright then.” Oliver said before grabbing Felicity’s hand and leading her out the doors towards the hoard of reporters. They were all shouting rapid-fire questions at the two of them, but became quiet when Oliver held up his hand to silence them.

“Hello everyone.” Oliver began. “I don’t know how much you’ve heard, but it is true that we were just attacked. But thanks to the efforts of the SCPD, our attacker has been remanded into custody and no one was hurt. Any other questions you have, you can direct to Detective Harris who is the lead on this case, but if you don’t mind, my wife and I would like to go home and rest. Thank you.”

Oliver led Felicity back into the auditorium where everyone else was still waiting and the cops were still gathering evidence.

“Why don’t we all meet back at my office?” Oliver suggested to the group before they all nodded in understanding.

* * *

 

About ten minutes later, the whole group was back in the Bunker, except for Donna who had been taken home by Quentin.

“I spoke to Harris and the DA and the case is looking good.” Quentin announced. “Cutter will be put in Iron Heights until trial.”

“Good. So that’ll give you a chance to go on your honeymoon.” Thea stated.

“What?” Oliver asked. “We’re not going on a honeymoon.”

“Yes you are. I already arranged everything—air fare, hotel.” Thea responded.

“Speedy, we cant just leave town with everything going on with HIVE.”

“Come on, Ollie, you deserve some time off! We can handle things until you get back.”

Oliver tried to protest but was interrupted by John. “She has a point. With everything you’ve been going through, with your campaign and HIVE and William, you should take a break for a bit. Enjoy newlywed life for a while. And Thea’s right, we can handle things.”

“Ollie, I’m not taking no for an answer.” Thea stated sternly.

Oliver looked over at Felicity silently asking her what she thinks.

Felicity shrugged. “I mean, it would be nice to get away for a while.”

Oliver sighed in defeat. “Alright fine. We’ll go.”

“Good!” Thea perked up as she pulled out a folder. “So here’s all the information about flights and hotels. I hope you like Aruba.”

Felicity took the folder from Thea and grabbed Oliver’s hand. “So I guess we’ll see you all in a week then. I’ll try my best to keep him distracted.”

“Gross!” Thea interjected.

“That’s not what I meant!” Felicity defended. “Ugh lets just go.” Felicity tugged on Oliver’s hand and led him out of the Bunker leaving everyone else behind.

“Are you sure you really want to do this?” Oliver asked once the elevator started to ascend.

Felicity sighed. “Look, I know there’s a lot going on right now, but that’s exactly why you need this. You need a break from carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.” Felicity then turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Besides, I’d like to have some alone time with my husband.”

A wide grin spread across Oliver’s face at her words. “‘My husband.’” Oliver repeated. “I like the way that sounds...wife.”

Oliver leaned down and pressed his lips to hers while wrapping his arms around her waist.

“I love you, wife.” Oliver cooed softly.

“I love you too, husband.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a couple things:  
> One—Kinda the whole reason I started this fic was because the show canon was getting a bit crazy. I wanted to write things in a way that I thought was a little more realistic, but not just in terms of the story but with everything else as well. Now, I’m a very detail-oriented person and I’m also a stickler for accuracy. And my impression of the Arrow writers is that they aren’t. My mom worked as the District Attorney where I live for 25 years so I asked her a lot of questions in research for this chapter. I basically described to her the circumstances of Darhk’s trial and she told me that none of it was actually accurate. She told me that if she had been presented with this case when she was a DA, there’s no way she would’ve gone ahead with it because there was no physical evidence and there was only testimonies from vigilantes. In the episode, John testifies that Darhk held him and Thea and Felicity captive over Christmas; in a real court he wouldn’t have been able to do that because that’s a totally different crime than the one he’s on trial for. My mom also said that there’s no way the trial would’ve worked anyway without William’s testimony. So basically, in the real world, Darhk’s case never would’ve gone to trial in the first place, let alone would he have actually gone to prison. (Out of curiosity, I also asked her about the events of season 6 and she says that Oliver going to prison after already being acquitted at trial is not legal so basically Oliver was being illegally imprisoned in season 7). The Arrow writers’ attention to detail and dedication to accuracy is astonishing! *eye roll* Anyway, so that’s why Darhk’s case is dismissed in this chapter.  
> Two—Maybe I’m the only one, but I didn’t really like Felicity’s wedding dress at the fake Olicity wedding. I mean, it was a pretty dress, but I just didn’t think it suited her very well. So I found a different dress that I thought would suit Felicity better so this is the dress Felicity is wearing at the wedding: https://www.dhgate.com/product/bateau-wedding-dresses-short-sleeves-mermaid/241869658.html  
> Also, chapter 5 of Deleted Scenes that I posted a couple weeks ago; I said in the pre-chapter notes that that scene took place after a chapter I hadn’t posted yet...well, this is that chapter. Chapter 5 of Deleted Scenes takes place immediately following this chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

Oliver and Felicity’s plane landed in Star City in the early hours of Monday morning. They were sad to leave Aruba, but anxious to get back home.

It took Oliver a little bit but, eventually, he got over his initial reluctance to go on a honeymoon and the two of them actually ended up enjoying themselves a lot. Thea had booked them the honeymoon suit at an amazing resort right on the beach. By the time the honeymoon was over, they almost didn’t want to go home.

But they knew they had to. Felicity had Palmer Tech waiting for her—and the board, particularly Mr. Dennis, wasn’t too happy about her spontaneous vacation—and Oliver had William to get back to. And of course, the city still needed Green Arrow and Overwatch. The team had done well enough while they were gone, but being short-handed wasn’t easy.

So here they were, finally back in Star City after their long flight. Thankfully, Felicity had used her company jet which made the trip more relaxing, but they were still so jet lagged, Felicity decided to take the day off to give her some extra time to get back into her normal routine before going back to work.

“Hey so I’m taking William to a Stars game tonight.” Oliver said as they sat in the car on the way back to their loft. 

“Which sport are they again?” Felicity asked.

“Hockey.” Oliver replied. 

“Our hockey team is called the Star City Stars? Really?” Felicity raised her eyebrows.

“I know it’s not the most creative name, but they’re actually a pretty good team. My dad used to take Tommy and I to Stars games all the time when we were kids. Dad loved hockey.”

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be fun.” Felicity responded with a smile.

“And I was thinking of maybe you, me, and William going out to dinner beforehand?” Oliver asked after a moment, looking over at her. He paused briefly before continuing. “It’s just...you haven’t met William yet and, I had wanted you to meet _before_ we got married, but you were still recovering from your injury and then we just got married so suddenly...but, we’re married now so you have to meet him. He’s your step-son and he’s gonna be around so I want you two to have a good relationship.”

“And I totally agree with that. I want to have a good relationship with him too. It’s just...I don’t know, every time I think about meeting him it makes me nervous.” She confessed looking down at her lap.

“Why?” Oliver asked.

Felicity didn’t answer right away, instead she just wrung her hands in her lap.

“Hey.” Oliver said softly, grabbing one of her hands and rubbing his thumb gently along the back. “Talk to me.” 

Felicity threw her head back and sighed. “It’s just...what if he doesn’t like me? What if he resents me because I’m not his real mom? I don’t know the first thing about being a step-mother! And the step-mothers you see in movies are always evil!” The words tumbled out of her mouth so quickly she didn’t even take a breath as she spoke.

“Okay.” Oliver nodded. “I completely understand that. But William will love you. You know, he loves science and engineering and computers. He also loves video games and Doctor Who and all that nerd stuff you love.”

Felicity couldn’t help but chuckle at Oliver’s “nerd stuff” line.

“And he knows that you’re not his mother and he doesn’t expect you to be. I know you’re nervous but I promise it’s gonna be great. And I know that you will be an amazing step-mom.”

“You really think so?” Felicity asked, looking over at him.

“I really do.” Oliver replied with a nod. 

“Okay.” Felicity said with a nod. “Then I can’t wait for dinner tonight.” 

Oliver leaned forward to place a small kiss—which turned into several kisses—on Felicity’s lips. “I love you.” He whispered.

“I love you too.” Felicity replied.

* * *

 

The rest of the day passed pretty easily. Oliver went on a run while Felicity took a nap. Felicity helped Oliver convert the guest room into a room for William since it was Oliver’s month to have William stay with him. They ordered pizza for lunch and watched TV while Felicity caught up on some work emails. All in all, it was a pretty relaxing day and a great way to transition from vacation back to reality.

At dinner time, Oliver and Felicity drove to Samantha’s apartment to pick up William for the game. 

“Hey, kiddo!” Oliver greeted his son with a hug after he and Felicity walked through Samantha’s front door. “How is school going?”

“Pretty good. I had a math test on Friday but we haven’t gotten our grades back yet so I don’t know how I did.”

“I’m sure you got an A.” Oliver responded. “Hey so, is it okay if Felicity joins us for dinner tonight?” 

“Is she coming to the game too? I thought it was just gonna be us.” William replied. 

“No, she doesn’t really like hockey.”

“Oh, then okay.” William shrugged a little less than enthusiastically.

“William, why don’t you go grab the rest of your stuff.” Samantha suggested.

“Okay.” William complied, running into his bedroom.

“Anything exciting happen while we were gone?” Oliver asked Samantha after William was out of earshot. 

“Well, this is Star City. As I’m starting to learn, this city doesn’t go more than a day or two without some kind of crisis. I’ve been drowning in paperwork at the DA’s office. To be honest, I’m actually glad it’s your month to take William. I’ve been so busy with work and William, I haven’t had any time to go out and actually get to know the city.” Samantha replied.

“Well, we’re happy to take him off your hands for a while.” Oliver responded with a chuckle. 

William reappeared just then carrying a backpack and a duffel bag. “K, I’m ready to go.” He announced.

“Alrighty then.” Oliver responded clapping his hands together. “I was thinking Big Belly Burger for dinner. Sound good?”

“Yeah.” William nodded. 

Oliver, Felicity, and William headed out after that. Felicity sat in silence during most of the car ride while Oliver and William chatted about the game. She just didn’t know what to say. She spent the entire car ride trying to think of things to talk about, based on what Oliver had told her about him, but every conversation she played in her head ended either with her rambling or with awkward silence.

God how was she ever going to be a mother herself if she couldn’t even figure out how to be a step-mom?

They finally arrived at Big Belly Burger ten minutes later and sat down in a booth with Oliver and Felicity sitting next to each other on one side and William sitting by himself on the other.

Throughout dinner, Oliver tried to bridge the gap and start conversations between Felicity and William, but it was mostly in vain. There were a couple times where they managed to talk for a good five minutes or so—namely when Oliver brought up the fact that Felicity went to MIT and William got excited when she told him that she’d studied aerospace engineering (or “rocket science” as it was more commonly known)—but even those weren’t sustained for very long before they lapsed into awkward silence again. 

Eventually, after they’d finished their burgers, Oliver decided to go up to the counter and order them all milkshakes, leaving Felicity and William alone together.

The first few minutes were awkward. William munched on his last remaining fries while Felicity played with her straw wrapper. But eventually, Felicity realized that she couldn’t let this continue. She was an adult and she needed to act like it. Oliver wanted them to get along and it was up to Felicity to make that happen. She took a deep breath and broke the silence between them. 

“Okay I need to be honest with you about something.” Felicity stated and William looked up at her. “I don’t really know what I’m doing here. I’ve never been a step-mom before and I’ve also never had much extended interaction with kids.

“Look, I get it. Your life has been completely turned upside down in the past couple months. You found out the truth about your father, you were kidnapped by a psychopath, then you and your mom move to a completely different city halfway across the country, and the dad that you didn’t even know you had gets married to some woman you’ve never met. Believe it or not, I’ve been through a similar experience.”

“Really?” William asked.

“Yeah. When I was eight my dad left and my parents got divorced. Before the divorce, we lived in this really nice house with a backyard and a dog and I went to a great school and I actually had friends. But after my dad left, my mom and I had to move to this really tiny apartment on the other side of town. I also had to change schools in the middle of the year and it was so hard to make new friends. And the worst part was that our new apartment complex didn’t allow pets so we had to give my dog away. All I wanted was for things to go back to the way they were before. I was angry and upset and frustrated that all these changes were happening and I felt like I had no control over my life. And I didn’t have anyone to talk to either.

“The point is that, I can kind of understand what you’re going through so I get why you don’t want to like me. I know that you love your dad and you love being closer to him, but I would also totally understand that a part of you just wants things to go back to the way they were before when it was just you and your mom.” 

“I just want things to go back to normal!” William exclaimed. He had stopped looking at Felicity, but she could tell that he had tears in his eyes. 

“Well, they can’t. But things will get better.”

“How do you know?” William asked, wiping away the few tears that had fallen.

“Because they did for me. Things never went back to how they were before my parents got divorced, but I learned to make the best of my new situation. And you will too. Take you and I, for example. I know that I’m never gonna be your mom, but I don’t want to be; you already have a mom and she’s pretty great. But I’d like to be your friend. So, if you ever need someone to talk to about anything, you can talk to me. Okay?”

William didn’t speak for a few moments, but eventually, he nodded and gave Felicity a small smile and a nod. “Okay.” 

After that, Felicity asked him questions about school and what he wanted to be when he grew up until Oliver returned with their milkshakes.

“Are we good?” He asked them as he sat down.

Felicity looked over at William and he smiled. “Yeah, we’re good.” 

* * *

 

Felicity returned to work the next day to find a mountain of paperwork on her desk and Curtis waiting in her office. 

“What is all this?” Felicity exclaimed as she rifled through the papers. “I was only gone for a week!”

“It’s mostly bureaucratic stuff. Minutes from various meetings, each departments weekly reports, etc.” Her assistant, Gerry, responded. 

“And why do we even have paper copies of this stuff? Palmer Tech prides itself on being the most eco-friendly company in the country. A mountain of paper is not eco-friendly! I want you to send out a company-wide memo reminding people of that.”

“I’ll get right on that.” Gerry responded before heading to his desk.

Felicity sat down in her chair with a sigh before she remembered that Curtis was still waiting.

“What is it, Curtis?” 

“First of all, welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful honeymoon. I remember mine and Paul’s honeymoon...we barely left our room...”

“Curtis!” Felicity snapped. “That is wildly inappropriate.”

“Right, of course you’re right. Anyway...the reason I’m here is because I was hoping that, now that you’re back, maybe you’d present the implant to the board?”

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I have a meeting with Mister Dennis in just a few minutes about that very subject. If you’d like to stay, you’d be more than welcome. You know more about the implant than I do so you’d be able to answer his questions better than me.” Felicity replied.

“Yeah that’d be great!” Curtis responded, pulling up a chair to sit in.

Just a moment later, Felicity saw Mister Dennis walk into the room and Gerry gesture for him to come in to her office.

“Mister Dennis, it’s good to see you as always.” Felicity stated politely as Mr. Dennis walked in. “You remember Curtis Holt.”

“Yes, from Design Innovations.” Mr. Dennis said.

“Actually, I was just promoted to Supervising Director of Design Innovations.” Curtis responded. 

“Well, congratulations, Mister Holt.” Mr. Dennis said before turning to Felicity and pulling up a chair. “So why am I here, Miss Smoak?” 

“Well, for the past several years, Mister Holt here has been working on a piece of technology that could, quite literally, change the world and he thinks he’s finally perfected it enough to be sold commercially.”

“And what exactly is this world-changing technology?” Mr. Dennis asked.

“It’s an implantable bio-stimulant that Mister Holt believes can cure paralysis.” Felicity replied.

“Really? Well, if this is true that would certainly be a game-changer. Not to mention how good it would be for the company if it works. Tell me how you started working on this, Mister Holt.” 

“Well, I actually began developing it a few years ago at my old job after my mom was in an accident and paralyzed from the neck down. I wanted to help her. I presented my old boss with a prototype but he said no and my mom died before I could really test it. That’s actually why I quit my old job and came to work here. Even though my mom was dead, I could still help other people with this implant and I knew that Doctor Palmer and Palmer Tech were dedicated to this kind of technology so I knew that, if I presented it to you, you would be less likely to say no.”

“Well, you’re certainly right about that. However, there are other things to consider and steps that need to be taken. Have you applied to the FDA to start trials?”

“Not yet.” Curtis replied. “Miss Smoak told me I would need the board’s approval first.”

“Well, I will certainly bring it up at the next meeting. Thank you, Mister Holt. You are certainly a valuable asset to this company.” Mr. Dennis said, shaking Curtis’ hand. 

“That’ll be all. Thank you, Curtis.” Felicity dismissed him.

After Curtis left, Mr. Dennis turned to Felicity. “It’s interesting that Mister Holt has been developing this technology and, at the same time, you’ve also recovered from a spinal cord injury.”

“Mister Dennis, are you implying that I had a highly experimental piece of technology illegally implanted in me to help me walk?” Felicity asked rhetorically, cocking her head to the side. “Like Mister Holt said, he started developing this technology years ago for his mother. As for me, my doctor told me that my injury was not, in fact, permanent and I could make a full recovery with extensive physical therapy.” Felicity lied.

“So its just a coincidence then?” Mr. Dennis asked, raising his eyebrow.

“Yes, exactly. Like two co-workers who inadvertently wear the same outfit on the same day.”

Mister Dennis just stared at her for a moment, but eventually he turned and walked out of her office.

Felicity spent the rest of the morning working through everything she’d missed while she was gone, but then Thea surprised her by unexpectedly showing up in her office and demanding they go out to lunch. They ended up going to one of their favorite breakfast & lunch cafes that was just across the street from Palmer Tech.

“So did you like the resort?” Thea asked after they’d sat down and ordered their food.

“Yeah it was amazing. The view from our balcony was unreal. The water was so blue it looked like a painting.” Felicity replied.

“Well, I’m glad you liked it. However, I’d appreciate it if you spared me the details of...everything else.”

“Oh you don’t want to hear about the time we went skinny dipping and—“

“Stop!” Thea said abruptly, covering Felicity’s mouth with her hand. “Don’t you _dare_ finish that story. The only time I would ever want to even _think_ about you having sex is when you get pregnant and even then I’ll just pretend that it was immaculate conception or something.”

Felicity laughed and threw her balled up straw wrapper at Thea, hitting her chin.

“Hey!” Thea exclaimed and retaliated in kind. 

Fortunately, their waitress arrived with their food before their fight could escalate to them flicking water from their glasses at each other.

“So Ollie told me that you finally met William last night and that it didn’t start out well but it seemed to get better.”

“Yeah.” Felicity nodded as she took a bite of her chicken parmesan. “It was awkward at first, but I think he came around to me by the end. I think that he’s just already been through so much in the past few months and he’s just a little overwhelmed so Oliver and I getting married all of a sudden probably didn’t help. But he’s living with us at the loft now for the next month, per the custody agreement, so hopefully that’ll give us some more time to get to know each other. The three of us even had breakfast together this morning before he went to school.” 

“That’s great!” Thea smiled. “Yeah, he’s a pretty awesome kid. And if it makes you feel better, he was awkward around me too at first, but eventually he warmed up to me. We actually spent a lot of time together while you and Ollie were in Aruba. I introduced him to Friday Night Lights and, guess what? He’s Riggins all the way.” 

“Thea Dearden Queen, that boy is ten years old. He doesn’t need you corrupting his soul with your pro-Riggins trash.” Felicity responded in a mock-threatening tone. 

“Too late.” 

A few moments of comfortable silence lapsed between them as they ate their food before Felicity spoke again. 

“So how are things going with Alex?”

“Pretty good.” Thea replied. “Although, there is one little problem.”

“What is it?” 

“He got a job offer from Ruvé Darhk to be her Chief of Staff. Obviously, I don’t want him working for Mrs. Evil, but it’s the only job offer he’s had since Ollie suspended his campaign.” 

“I might be able to help with that.” Felicity suggested. 

“Really?”

“Yeah. Our Head of Public Relations at Palmer Tech is retiring next month so we’re in the process of hiring a new one. Alex might be a little under-qualified for that, but I could still see about getting him an interview.” 

“Um yes! That would be amazing, thank you.” 

“Sure thing. We’re sisters now so, I guess it’s my familial obligation to not let your boyfriend work for a supervillain’s wife. Speaking of, what about you? What are you gonna do now that you’re not running Oliver’s campaign?”

“Uh I’m not sure. I never thought that politics would be something I would ever get involved in, but I actually didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. Plus, it was really nice to work with Ollie. I hadn’t realized how much we’d grown apart since...well, since the siege really, so it was nice getting to spend so much time with him and kind of get to know each other again. But I’m really not sure what to do now. I loved running Verdant, but that was never something I really wanted to do forever. So I don’t know. I guess I’m just focusing on being Speedy.”

“Well, have you ever thought about going to college?” 

“Mom had to pay off my high school to let me graduate so no.” Thea replied.

“Well, maybe you should consider it. You could go to Star City Community College and get those annoying gen eds out of the way. That would also help to bump up your GPA and then you could transfer to a four year school if you wanted to. You’re only 21 so it’s still perfectly okay for you to not have your whole life figured out and to still change your mind about what you want to do. I mean, when I was 21 I was working as an IT girl and seriously re-thinking all of my life choices. So Oliver and I would be happy to help you out in any way we can.”

Thea pondered Felicity’s suggestion for a few moments and then nodded. “Yeah okay. I’ll think about it.”

“Good.”

After the two ladies finished their lunch, Felicity returned to her office and, once again, found Curtis waiting for her.

“Curtis, twice in one day.” Felicity said as she walked into her office carrying a fresh cup of coffee she had picked up from the cafe.

“Well, I went to Accounting to get financial projections for the implant—“ 

“And?” Felicity asked.

“Well, I told them to email you with all the details, but all in all, it’ll sell for about 250,000 dollars...per unit.”

Felicity deflated at his words. “Seriously? A quarter of a million dollars? How can something so tiny cost so much? We have to figure out how to get that number way down. I saw an article a couple days ago that said as many as twelve thousand people are affected with a spinal cord injury every year. People shouldn’t have to be millionaires just to be able to walk again. Talk to your team, do whatever you can to reduce costs. We’re trying to change the world here, but we can’t do that if winning the lottery is the only way anyone will be able to afford our product.”

“What about the board?” Curtis asked.

“Let _me_ worry aboutthe board. That’s my job.”

“Well, I will go talk to my people then and let you know as soon as we have any ideas.”

Curtis left her office after that and Felicity knew that she had to give Mr. Dennis the information about the price, even though she really didn’t want to, knowing that he wouldn’t care about selling it for such a high price—and he might even try to talk to the board about selling it for more.

Felicity spent the rest of her day trading emails with Mr. Dennis which left her physically and mentally exhausted. By the time she got home, all she wanted to do was drink a bottle of wine and relax.

“Hey, honey, how was work?” Oliver greeted her cheerfully when she walked through the door of the loft. He was in the kitchen making dinner while William sat at the table doing homework.

“Ugh” Felicity groaned in response.

“That good, huh?”

“I finally told the board about the implant. Curtis says we could sell it for 250,000 per unit so I spent the entire afternoon trying to talk Mister Dennis out of rounding that up to an even 500,000. It’s like Mister Dennis has some personal grudge against me. I don’t remember him being this difficult when Ray was CEO.” 

“I could pay him a visit if you want. An arrow to the shoulder might persuade him to see things your way.”

“Mmm...tempting...but maybe we should refrain from using your method of persuasion...at least, for now.” Felicity responded. “But I appreciate the offer.” She said, giving him a peck on the cheek and going over to the cabinet where they kept the wine and pouring herself a glass. 

“Oh...I almost forgot to tell you. I had lunch with Thea today.” Felicity said as she took a large sip of her wine.

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. She basically said that she’s not really sure what to do with her life now that you’re not running for Mayor anymore so I suggested she should think about going to college.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, I think it would be a good way for her to explore her options. She’s 21; even I didn’t have my whole life figured out at that age. And I told her that if she decided to go we would support her and help her out in any way we can.” 

“Of course. And I know that, if she went, she’d do a hell of a lot better than me. Maybe it would be a good idea. As long as she still had time for the team.”

“I’m sure she would.”

Despite Felicity’s stressful day at work, she was able to spend the rest of the night relaxing at home. After William finished his homework, they ate dinner and watched a couple movies together before William went to bed. And after William asleep, it gave Oliver and Felicity the chance to have some alone time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the most exciting chapter, admittedly, but hopefully some good domestic moments at least?


	12. Chapter 12

The next week passed unceremoniously. The ghosts were still active, but Darhk was not. According to Malcolm, Darhk was preparing for the next phase of his plan, but even Malcolm didn’t know all the details of what that plan was. Apparently, even being the former head of the League of Assassins wasn’t enough to get Damien Darhk to trust you. All Malcolm really knew was that Darhk was building a massive underground structure, but he didn’t know what for.

Not only had things stagnated on the HIVE front, but there’d also not been any progress at Palmer Tech to figure out a way to sell the implant for cheaper. They’d also officially filed a request with the FDA and found out it could take up to two years for their request to be processed—let alone even start trials.

Needless to say, the whole team was getting a little restless. The only good news was that Thea had decided to go ahead with the process of applying to Star City Community College. 

“So I did a little research on my own and I figured, since I don’t really know what I want to do, I could just do the Associate of Arts to start with.” Thea sat cross-legged on one of the sofas in Felicity’s office with her laptop sitting in her lap while Felicity sat across from her. “I mean, I’m not exactly _thrilled_ about taking all those general studies classes, but I figure, I’m older now and not really as concerned with partying as I was in high school. And I’ll have you to help me.”

“Yeah you will.” Felicity smiled. “I’ll always be happy to help you.” 

Thea returned Felicity’s smile and then continued. “So according to the SCCC website, registration for summer and fall started last week. I was thinking of just taking one class this summer to, kind of, ease into it.”

“I think that sounds great.” Felicity replied. “That’s the smart thing to do.”

Just then, Felicity heard the clicking of heels on the floor and looked towards the door of her office to see her mom walking through, letting herself in to Felicity’s office. 

“Well, hello Thea! Hi baby girl!” Donna greeted them.

“Hi, Donna!” Thea greeted her cheerily.

“Hey, Mom. Whatcha doing here?” Felicity asked.

“Well, I wanted to surprise you and take you out to lunch because it’s Saturday so why are you even at work? I didn’t know Thea would be here, but you can come too girlie! The more the merrier!” Donna replied enthusiastically. 

“Is it lunch time already?” Thea asked rhetorically, looking at the clock on her computer screen. “I’m always up for some girl time.” Thea said, looking at Felicity and shrugging. 

“Um yeah sure, we can go out to lunch. Let me just check my email real quick to make sure I haven’t missed anything important.” Felicity stood up from her place on the couch and walked over to her desk. 

Thea set her laptop aside and she and Donna chatted while Felicity perused her inbox. 

While Felicity was in the middle of checking her email, her screen suddenly switched over from her inbox to a video that looked like it was coming from the executive conference room.

“What the hell?” Felicity exclaimed.

“What is it?” Thea asked coming to stand next to Felicity at her desk with Donna trailing closely behind. 

“Hello out there!” A woman Felicity recognized as Brie Larvan said. “I’m looking for Felicity Smoak bee-cause it would be swell if we could chat about a certain implantable bio-stimulant. I’m sure your board would really appreciate it.”

“Who the hell was that?” Thea asked. 

“Brie Larvan.” Felicity replied. 

“You know this wackadoodle?” Donna asked.

“It’s kind of a long story, but I had a run-in with her last year.” Felicity replied.

“If this Brie Larvan is coming for you, we need to get you out of here.”

“I don’t think she’s after me, she’s after something else.” Felicity responded.

“She said something about an implant.” Thea chimed in.

“Yeah. The question is: how does she even know about it? It’s proprietary. We haven’t said anything to the public about it.” 

“What is it?” Thea asked.

“...uh...I’m not supposed to tell you so you have to promise you won’t talk about it to anyone. Palmer Tech recently developed an implantable bio-stimulant that can theoretically cure paralysis. We only just applied to the FDA to begin testing it last week. There’s only one working prototype.”

“Well, where’s the prototype?” Thea asked.

“...in the base of my spine.” Felicity answered, albeit a bit reluctantly. She could get in serious trouble if the wrong people found out about her little experiment. 

“What does that mean?” Donna asked.

“I had the bio-stimulant implanted in me like a month and a half ago. That’s how I recovered from my injury. But technically, it’s illegal because we didn’t have FDA approval or anything for the surgery. The employee who created the tech was eager to test it and I was eager to not be in a wheelchair anymore. If anyone finds out what we did, we could all get in a lot of trouble.”

“Felicity!” Donna exclaimed.

“Mom, this is not the time to chastise me.”

“I wasn’t going to, I’m just surprised.”

“Yeah me too.” Thea interjected. “I thought you said your injury wasn’t permanent.”

“I lied. I had to in order to explain my recovery.” Felicity responded. “Look, Palmer Tech has a strict ‘don’t negotiate with terrorists’ policy. So we just have to contact the team to help us take her down.”

“What team?” Donna asked at the same time that Thea pulled out her cell phone.

“I can’t get a signal.” Thea stated. At her words, Felicity pulled out her own phone and saw that she also didn’t have a signal, which was especially surprising because she had worked her tech magic on her phone to ensure she would have cell phone reception anywhere at any time.

“Oh my god!” Donna exclaimed pointing towards the window. The three women looked to see thousands of bees swarming the building. 

“Oh frak! This is not good.” Felicity turned back to face Thea and her mother.

“Okay so what’s the plan? The board members are being held hostage by some crazy lady who, I guess, likes bees and we have no way of contacting the team.” Thea said.

“The plan is to stop Brie Larvan and save the board members.” Felicity replied.

“Oh is that all?” Thea replied dryly. “And how exactly do you propose we do that?”

“Well, we’re two badass ladies...and my mom. I’m sure we can figure something out.”

“Okay can someone please tell me what the hell is going on and what is this ‘team’ you keep talking about?” Donna interjected forcefully.

“The woman from the video...” Felicity began.

“Brie Larvan.” Donna finished. 

“Yes. For some reason that I don’t know yet, she’s holding the board members hostage because, I guess, she wants me to give her the bio-stimulant implant. So we have to figure out a way to stop her and rescue the board members.” Felicity explained.

“What? Are you crazy? No! We should be figuring out a way to get out of here so we can call the police!” Donna replied.

”Mom, the police can’t handle this! But we can.”

”How?” Donna responded. “We’re not superheroes!”

Felicity looked over at Thea. “Maybe we should tell her.” 

“Tell her what? Oh! Wait seriously? Felicity, telling her could put her in danger.” Thea responded.

“She’s already in danger!” Felicity replied. “And honestly, I think it’s about time for her to find out. I can’t keep hiding this secret forever.” Felicity turned back to face her mom. “Mom, Thea and I work with the Green Arrow. In fact, Thea is Speedy, the one in red. That’s the team we’re talking about. Team Arrow. We can’t contact the rest of our team but we can take down Larvan and save the board members ourselves...maybe.” 

“I’m so confused. So how long exactly has this been going on?” Donna asked.

“I’ve been working with him for about three years, three and a half if you count all the times I helped before I joined the team. And Thea joined the team last year.”

“And does Oliver know about this? Oh my god Oliver is the Green Arrow isn’t he?” Thea and Felicity exchanged surprised looks at Donna’s revelation. “Oh don’t look at me like that. I may be blonde, but I’m not _that_ blonde. I always wondered how you even met him, not because I think he’s out of your league or anything, I just know you and I know that you’re not the type of person that would hang around someone like him, so him being the Green Arrow is the only thing that makes sense.”

“Wow, you’re mom is kind of a genius sometimes. And you know, as long as we’re sharing secrets we might as well lay it all on the table. Laurel Lance is the Black Canary and Quentin works with our team sometimes too. Oh and Oliver’s bodyguard, John Diggle is Spartan.”

“Wait did you just say that Quentin works with you sometimes?” Donna asked. 

“Yep.” Thea replied. 

“And he knows about all of you?”

“Yep.” Thea repeated. 

“Has he known the whole time we’ve been together?”

“Yes.” Thea answered.

“Well, great now that we’re all caught up.” Felicity interjected. “Can we get on with our plan now? We need to get down to the boardroom which is just one floor below us.”

Thea left the office to go check the hallway but quickly came running back in. “Guys. Major problem. The bees are inside and coming this way.”

“Oh my god. You know I should really invest in some flats. These assaults are just not conducive to high fashion.” Donna rambled as she took of her heels.

Felicity swung around and noticed an air duct vent on the wall. “Hey do you have anything I can pry this open with?”

“I got a Swiss Army knife.” Thea said, pulling out the small knife from her pocket. “Let me give it a try. No offense, hon, but I’m stronger than you.” Thea said stepping up to get the vent open.

“None taken. You’re not wrong.”

Thea managed to pry open the vent in a matter of seconds.

“I’m sorry you want us to go in there?” Donna asked. 

“It’s either go in there or stay out here and get stung. And I have a feeling her bees probably hurt more than the average bees.” Felicity stated.

The three women managed to crawl through the air shaft until they reached a ladder that led them to a crawl space inside the walls of the building. Once they were there, all their phones lit up with another video message. 

“I am running out of patience Felicity Smoak. You have ten minutes before I start voting board members out.” Larvan said before the message cut out. 

“Okay you said you had a run-in with her last year. How did you take her down then?” Thea asked.

“The good old-fashioned way: hacking. But I can’t do that without a working computer.”

“And we also have no way of knowing if the team is on their way. So how do we get to the board?” Thea asked.

“Do you hear that?” Donna interjected before Felicity could answer Thea’s question.

“Sounds like a bee.” Felicity stated as the three women turned in the direction of where the sound was coming from. When they turned to look they found, not one, but several bees headed towards them. “Make that plural. Run!” Felicity shouted, grabbing her mom as the three of them turned to run in the opposite direction.

The three women barely outran the bees, narrowly escaping out of the crawl space and into a supply closet. 

“Do you remember the other day when we were all training in the Bunker and complaining about how nothing has been going on lately?” Thea asked, out of breath, as she quickly shut the door behind her and leaned up against it. “God, I’ll never complain about that again!”

“Seriously! We’re in a Die Hard movie with bees!” Felicity exclaimed.

“You’ve seen Die Hard?” Thea asked.

“I didn’t want to but Oliver made me watch all of them.” Felicity replied. 

“Of course he did. So how exactly are we gonna get out of here? There must be some way you can hack her system or something?”

Felicity shook her head. “She’s got me completely locked out. We’re gonna have to figure out how to do this the old-old-fashioned way.” It was then that Felicity noticed her mother had picked up a wet floor sign and was hiding behind it. “Mom, what are you doing?”

“The bees won’t sting me if I have a shield!” Donna defended.

Before Felicity could respond, one bee managed to get through the crack underneath the door and fly in to the room. Felicity put herself in front of her mom and Thea put herself in front of both of them, grabbing a mop just in case.

“Felicity! I’m sorry...Miss Smoak!” A voice coming from the bee exclaimed. 

“Wait is that—Curtis?” Felicity questioned. “How are you—oh my god, are you in the Bunker? How? And why?”

“Yes. And I’m still pinching myself.” Curtis responded. “I hacked the bees! At least, I hacked one bee. Wow this is awesome! I’m actually really surprised at myself ‘cause I haven’t done good old-fashioned hacking since college and even then, it was never really my strong suit. Are you proud of me?”

“Sure, Curtis.” Felicity responded. “Can you just help us get out of here?”

“Uh yeah...lemme just see if I can hack the rest of them. Uh you might have to help me through it.” 

Felicity talked him through as best as she could. Hacking was easy but trying to explain it to a non-hacker was like trying to teach poetry to fish. Eventually, however, Felicity managed to give him enough to help him get into the rest of the bees and he was able to lead them away from the supply closet—with the exception of the first bee he hacked which he guided to fly next to them as they exited the closet.

“The rest of the team is on their way. They’ll meet you at the west utility entrance.” Curtis told them. 

“Where is that?” Thea asked.

“Follow me.” Felicity told them, taking off as fast as she could in that direction with Thea and her mom following her. 

It took than a little longer because Donna demanded they stop a few times so she could catch her breath, but eventually they made it to the rendezvous point only to find their path swarmed with bees.

“I thought you helped Curtis deactivate the bees!” Thea exclaimed.

“I thought I did too!” Felicity responded. 

Suddenly, the swarm of bees morphed together to form the shape of a man. Oliver, John, and Laurel all tried to incapacitate the bees but none of their methods worked. When they failed, the bees turned toward Felicity, Thea, and Donna who immediately went back inside after the swarm started advancing on them.

The three women ran all the way back to the supply closet just to be safe. 

“What did that thing do to the Green—Oliver?” Felicity’s mom asked. 

“Stung him, I think.” Felicity replied.

“But he’ll be okay. And they’ll be back.” Thea interjected.

Just then, their phones went off with another message. Felicity pulled hers out to watch. This time, Larvan was in Felicity’s office and sitting at her desk.

“I thought we were friends, Smoak.” Larvan said. “That you were gonna come through. Ten minutes ago you had ten minutes to go. But bee-cause we got interrupted, I’m gonna give you an additional five minutes. But bee warned, that’s all you’re gonna get. If you don’t give me what I want in the next five minutes, I’m gonna start taking your board members off the board.”

“Wow she really likes her puns doesn’t she?” Felicity commented dryly after the video cut out.

“You’re not thinking of actually giving her what she wants, right?” Thea asked.

“If I don’t, she’ll kill them.”

“And if you do, she’ll probably kill them anyway.” Thea pointed out. 

“Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that I shouldn’t give in to her because it would be bad for the company and for me. But if I don’t give in, she’ll kill the board members. But—oh! Oh wait...I think I might have an idea.”

“What?” Thea and Donna asked simultaneously. 

“The only working implant is in the base of my spine, but Curtis created other prototypes for the trials that he just hasn’t activated yet.If I gave her one of those maybe it would stall her long enough to take out the bees and arrest her.”

“That plan sounds totally insane and like it’s not going to work. What if she figures out it’s a decoy?” Thea responded.

“That’s why we’re gonna get you and the board to safety first.”

“You’re going to face her alone?” Donna asked. “Felicity that’s crazy! She could kill you!”

“Donna’s right. At least let me stay with you in case she tries to put up a fight. I can take her.” Thea suggested.

“Fine.” Felicity agreed.

“Wait no! I’m not leaving you.” Donna protested.

“Mom, someone needs to make sure the board members get to safety.” Felicity told her.

“So how do we get the board members out?” Thea asked. 

“Well, I was thinking about this earlier before we started getting chased by the bees. We could use the elevator that goes down to the old lair and they could escape through there. But we’ll have to grab something from the Design Innovations department first.”

“Okay?”

“The DI lab is on the thirtieth to the right of the elevators. What I need are these small devices that are shaped like balls made out of aluminum. They should be in Curtis’ office. He’s the Director of the department so his office will have his name on the door. Can you grab them and then meet us at the lair entrance?” Felicity asked Thea.

“Yeah.” Thea nodded, leaving the supply closet to follow Felicity’s instructions.

“Okay, Mom, come with me.” Felicity grabbed her mother’s hand and led her towards the elevator entrance to the lair. Unfortunately, to get there required them to travel up several floors through a regular elevator.

“Okay now that we have some time to regroup, we really need to talk about this whole ‘you working with the Green Arrow’ thing. And also Oliver being the Green Arrow. And Quentin working with you and knowing your secret. You just threw a lot at me all at once and I haven’t really had any time to process any of it, but now I do have time and all I feel is angry. After you got arrested when you were fourteen, you promised me you were done with hacking.”

“This is different, Mom.”

“Did Oliver force you to join him?”

“What? No! Of course not! Why would you even think that?” 

“Well, I don’t know, Felicity. I just don’t understand how you could willingly get involved in something so dangerous!”

“Because I’m helping people. This is what we do. We save lives!” Felicity defended.

“By almost getting yourself killed in the process?”

“Mom, do you know why I took that job in IT at Queen Consolidated?” Felicity asked abruptly. Donna shook her head. “Because I never kept my promise. As soon as I was off probation, I started hacking again. I just got better at hiding my tracks. And when I was in college, I got involved with other hackers; Cooper and his friends. And one day, just a few months before graduation, I hacked into the Department of Education using an algorithm I created. Cooper decided to use it to wipe student loan debts and got caught by the FBI. At the time, I thought he’d killed himself and I was so devastated I vowed I’d quit hacking for good. I took the most boring tech job I could find as far away from Massachusetts as I could possibly get. But I hated it. I was so bored and unhappy that I wanted to drive my car off a bridge. And then Oliver came to me and he showed me a way that I could use my skills for good. To help people. And yeah it’s dangerous but this is the life I chose. I don’t expect you to understand, but I’m an adult so you can’t stop me from doing it.”

Before Felicity’s mom could respond, the two of them arrived at the entrance to the lair and Thea met them just a few moments later. 

“Did you get them?” Felicity asked as she saw Thea approach. 

“Yeah. They were right where you said they’d be. No pun intended.” Thea replied.

Felicity grabbed the bag where Thea had stashed them and opened up the elevator. 

“No way! This is just like that Jodie Foster movie!” Donna exclaimed.

“Yeah. Panic Room.” Thea replied.

The three women hopped inside the elevator—just as a swarm of bees came flying towards them—and Felicity began re-wiring the elevator.

“Hold on to something!” Felicity told them.

“Why?” Donna asked.

“This elevator only stops at the sub-level and we need it to stop at the 38th floor.” Felicity said, jerking backwards as she spoke the last words when the elevator came to a sharp halt. 

The doors opened to reveal a concrete wall and Felicity pulled out the devices she asked Thea to get from Curtis’ office.

“I think this is the wrong floor.” Donna stared.

“Now this is right. I just said the elevator doesn’t stop on this floor.” Felicity responded.

“Felicity, this is a concrete wall.”

“And these are explosive devices.” Thea interjected.

“Actually, they’re autonomous communication devices.” Felicity corrected. “I’m just hoping Curtis hasn’t figured out a way to stop them from exploding yet.”

Thea and Felicity placed the devices along the wall and then Felicity pressed the button to shut the elevator door. The three women covered their ears and braced for impact. 

After the explosion, Felicity opened the elevator doors back up and she and Thea rushed out.

“Okay who wants to go on a secret elevator ride down to the—“ Thea began. 

“Panic room.” Felicity finished. 

“Yeah, panic room.”

The board members quickly ran to the elevator without question. Felicity pressed the button to send the elevator down to the old lair leaving Felicity and Thea on their own.

“Trying to escape the hive?” Larvan’s voice came from the entrance to the conference room. Larvan held up a gun, pointing it right at Thea.

“Wait, before you kill us, can I ask how the bees obey you?” Felicity asked gaining her a confused look from Thea. “I’m curious.” 

“Neural implant.” Larvan replied.

It only took a moment for Thea to catch on to the fact that Felicity was trying to buy time for her mom and the board members to escape and for the team to arrive.

“And why bees?” Thea asked. “Why not have an obsession with flying squirrels?”

“Squirrels aren’t dying off at a rate of thirty percent every year.” Larvan answered. “And nobody cares. But bees are essential to life. We’re all connected. The world is one giant honeycomb.”

“You know, you might have a little more credibility if you weren’t threatening people’s lives.” Felicity stated.

“You mean like this?” Larvan said, holding the gun back up and, once again, pointing it towards Thea. Felicity stepped closer to Thea as a knee-jerk reaction. “I am running out of patience and your friend is running out of time! Now give me the damn—“ but before she could finish, she doubled over in pain and held her back. “That was embarrassing.” Larvan stated after she recovered from her episode.

Seeing Larvan made a thought occur to Felicity. “Brie, how did you find out about the implant? It’s propriety and we’ve said nothing to the public about it.” 

“I have a tumor on my L4 vertebrae. The tricky little guy is wrapped around my spinal cord. The only way to remove it is to have a surgery that will leave me paralyzed from the waist down. All the bees in the world couldn’t get a cripple to walk. And then I read about your miraculous recovery. You claimed that it was thanks to physical therapy, but I didn’t believe that so I did a little digging and found the application your company sent to the FDA for an implantable bio-stimulant that you believed could cure paralysis. I figured you must’ve used it on yourself first. And if you used it on yourself then you could make me one too. Which is exactly what you’re going to do.” 

“I can’t make it for you, but there’s another prototype I can give you.” Felicity responded.

“Good girl. Where is it?”

“I have to go get it. I can’t just let you walk through the R&D lab by yourself.”

“Fine.” Larvan said using the gun to gesture towards the door. “Take me to it.”

Felicity and Thea walked side by side while Larvan walked behind them pointing her gun at their backs. 

They walked to the elevators than took them down to the thirtieth floor where the Design Innovations department was.

“Stay here and I’ll go in and grab it.” Felicity said. Larvan grabbed Thea’s arm to keep her in place with the gun pressed to her back forcing Felicity to go inside the lab alone.

Felicity grabbed one of the non-working decoy implants and headed back out into the hallway. “Now you’ll have to have this surgically implanted. If we go back up to my office I can give you the information for the doctor who implanted mine. He’ll do it off the books for free.”

“Lead the way.” Larvan said and the three of them headed back up to Felicity’s office.

Once they were back up in Felicity’s office, Felicity sat down at her computer and pretended that she was looking up the information, but really she used the opportunity to get past Larvan’s firewalls to send a message to the team. Now all they had to do was wait until the team could arrive.

“You know, you could’ve just waited until the implant was commercially available. You saw the application to the FDA so you know that we should be starting test trials soon. In a couple years you’ll be able to buy one instead of having to steel it.” 

“Do you think I’d be doing this if I could wait that long?” Larvan snapped. “The doctors say that I have a year left, at most, if I don’t have the tumor removed.”

“Well, I’m sorry that this has happened to you. I don’t think it really warrants all this, but still, I’ve been paralyzed and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“Well, thanks for this.” Larvan said, holding up the box with the implant and the slip of paper with Dr. Faust’s information. “Since you complied so generously, I’m going to let all your friends live. I’ll be going now.” 

“You won’t be going anywhere except back to prison.” A gravelly voice came out of nowhere and they all looked to see Oliver, fully clad in his Green Arrow suit now standing in the room.

“Perfect timing. I was running out of stalling tactics.” Felicity said to Oliver then looked back at Larvan. “You didn’t think that I would actually let you walk free? That’s not even a working prototype.”

Oliver fired off an arrow at Larvan but the bees swarmed into human form again. Oliver stared fighting the swarm, but wasn’t making much progress so Thea tried to come in from another angle to help him out but was thrown across the room hitting her head on the coffee table. Felicity immediately ran over to her to make sure she was okay. She was breathing but she was unconscious. Felicity kneeled over her to try and protect her from further harm , but was advanced on by the swarm. Oliver fired off another arrow to try and disrupt the bees signal, but that only worked temporarily before the swarm bounced back. Oliver began fighting the swarm again, and while it was occupied, Felicity used the opportunity to run over to the lamp sitting against the wall of windows. She picked it up and mustered all her strength to smash it against the wall. She then turned around and pushed the lamp right into the swarm, causing it to explode. 

The explosion must’ve disrupted the neural implant in Larvan because she collapsed, lying unconscious on the floor.

“Haha. Lay down, bee-otch!” Felicity exclaimed after Larvan fell to the floor. She was met with a confused expression from Oliver. “Too on the nose?”

Oliver just shook his head in exasperation. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine but Thea hit her head pretty hard.” Felicity responded.

The two of them went over to Thea, who had now woken up. Oliver knelt down beside her and cradled her face in his hands.

“Speedy, can you here me? Are you okay?” 

“I think so.” Thea responded but her words were slightly slurred.

“She might have a concussion. We should take her to the hospital.” Felicity suggested. 

“That’s a good idea.” Oliver said before helping her stand up. He draped her arm over his shoulders and began walking toward the door. 

“Um honey?” Felicity called out.

“Hm?” Oliver hummed, turning back around to face her.

“Did you forget that you’re still wearing your suit? I’ll make sure she gets to the hospital. You just get out of here before the SCPD shows up.”

Oliver paused briefly before nodding. “Right. I’ll go back to the Bunker and change and then come back here to get you.” Oliver gently set Thea on one of the couches and then left through the side entrance so he wouldn’t be detected while Felicity sat down next to Thea and waited for the cops.

The SCPD arrived just a few minutes later. Felicity insisted that she wouldn’t give her statement until Thea had been checked out by an EMT. Thea did, in fact, have a concussion and was taken to the hospital for observation. Felicity texted Oliver to tell him where they were going and then gave her statement to the detective once Thea was checked in.

Oliver arrived not long after, now dressed in his civilian clothes. The doctors told them they wanted to keep Thea overnight so Oliver and Felicity left to let her get some rest.

“Oh frak! My mom!” Felicity exclaimed as they walked out of the hospital. “I totally forgot that I sent her and the board down to the old lair to escape.”

“What?”

“Also, she knows about you and the team and that Quentin works with us. She was pretty upset, but didn’t really have time to process it in all the chaos.”

“Wait what?!”

“Yeah she knows everything. Sorry, I know it’s not my secret to tell, but I had to. Oh god and the board...what am I gonna say to them? If they didn’t already hate me before, they certainly will now. They’re probably all still back at Palmer Tech. I should go back there and do damage control.”

“Okay, I’m a little confused, but I’ll take you back to the office and you can explain on the way.”

They arrived back at the office, and Felicity was right in thinking everyone was still there. Quentin had even arrived to assist in his capacity as Captain. The entire board was also still there, still having their statements taken. She knew they would tell the police about the lair, but that really wasn’t important since they didn’t use it anymore.

Before Felicity could walk over to where the board members were standing, she and Oliver were approached by Quentin. 

“You told your mom about the team and me?” He asked Felicity. 

“Y-yeah, I’m really sorry. It just sorta...happened.” Felicity responded.

“Well now she’s pissed at me for lying to her but even more pissed that I knew you were involved in this and didn’t try to stop you. So thanks for that.” Quentin said before abruptly walking away.

“Sorry!” Felicity called after him but he didn’t turn back. Felicity buried her face in her hands and let out a groan. “God this has just been the most insane day!” 

“And it’s not even two o’clock.” Oliver interjected. 

“Seriously?” Felicity exclaimed.

“Yeah. Larvan showed up at your office around 12:30 and this whole thing only lasted about an hour give or take.” Oliver shrugged.

“What the frakkin’ frak!” Felicity exclaimed, throwing her hands up. “It felt like it lasted hours. Now I need to stop delaying and go deal with the board. If they murder me, don’t tell William I let him win at Mario Kart.” 

Felicity walked over to where the board members were standing.

“Miss Smoak, I hope you have an explanation for everything that just happened.” Mr. Dennis said. 

“Yes I do. Settle in, it’s a long story.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I would really appreciate your feedback so please leave a comment! And don’t forget to hit that kudos button! :)
> 
> Find me on Tumblr: oneofthosecrazygirls-fics


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